THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


EX  LIBRIS 
RUTH  McC.  MAITLAND 


BENVENUTO  CELLINI 


THE  LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 
WRITTEN  BY  HIMSELF 

EDITED  AND  TRANSLATED  BYJOHNADDINGTON 
SYMONDS  WITH  A  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF 
CELLINI  BY  THE  SAME  HAND  TOGETHERWITH 
AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THIS  EDITION  UPON 
BENVENUTO  CELLINI,  ARTIST  AND  WRITER^BY 
ROYAL  CORJISSOZ  WITH  Rj; PRODUCTIONS 
OF  FORTY  ORIGINAL  PORTRAITS  AND  VIEWS 
ILLUSTRATING  THE  LIFE 


lilllllllll 


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1       BRENTANO'S  -NEW  YORK 

liiiiiiliHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilliiiiiiiiiilTT 


COPYRIGHT,  1906,  BY  BRENTANO's 
PUBLISHED  OCTOBER,  1906 


Art. 
Library 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

BENVENUTO   CELLINI!   ARTIST   AND   WRITER.  BY 

ROYAL  CORTISSOZ  XI 


INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  LIFE  OF  CELLINI.  BY  JOHN 

ADDINGTON  SYMONDS  3 

THE  LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI.  WRITTEN  BY 
HIMSELF  AND  TRANSLATED  BY  JOHN  ADDING- 
TON SYMONDS.  BOOK  FIRST  [CHAPTERS  I-C]  71 


1Q10802 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING  PAGE 

TITLE-PAGE  DESIGNED  BY  T.  M.  CLELAND 

WAX  MODEL  FOR  THE  PERSEUS  [FLORENCE]  XXII 

COSIMO  DE'  MEDICI,  WITH  CELLINI  AND  OTHER 

ARTISTS  AND  ARCHITECTS  [VASARI]  3 

BUST  OF  COSIMO  DE*  MEDICI   [FLORENCE]  26 

SALT-CELLAR  BY  CELLINI   [VIENNA]  5O 

BENVENUTO  CELLINI  [PAINTED  ON   PORPHYRY]  71 

LORENZO  DE'  MEDICI,  CALLED  THE  MAGNIFICENT 

[VASARI]  80 

BENEDETTO  VARCHI  [TITIAN]  112 

POPE  CLEMENT  VII.  [SEBASTIANO  DEL  PIOMBO]  1 3O 

GIULIO  ROMANO  [BY  HIMSELF]  144 

CASTELLO  SANT'  ANGELO  [ROME]  166 

BRONZE  BY  CELLINI  [FLORENCE]  18$ 
LEO  X.,  GIULIO  DE'  MEDICI  AND  L.  DE  ROSSI 

[RAPHAEL]  194 

ALESSANDRO  DE'  MEDICI   [VASARI]  212 

C  vii  ] 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING  PAGE 

BACCIO  BANDINELLO  [BY  HIMSELF]  228 

"PAIX"  ATTRIBUTED  TO  CELLINI   [MILAN]  246 

IPPOLITO  DE'  MEDICI   [PONTORMO]  26O 

GIACOPO  TATTI,  CALLED  SANSOVINO  [TINTO- 
RETTO] 284 

GIORGIO  VASARI   [BY  HIMSELF]  3l6 

CHARLES  V.  [TITIAN]  326 

SHIELD  ATTRIBUTED  TO  CELLINI   [TURIN]  342 


BENVENUTO  CELLINI 
ARTIST  AND  WRITER 


BENVENUTO  CELLINI 
ARTIST  AND  WRITER 

BY  ROYAL  CORTISSOZ 


N"La  Cousine  Bette"  Balzac  has  an 
illuminating  note  on  one  phase  of  the 
artistic  temperament.  He  is  speaking 
of  Wenceslas  Steinbock,the  sculptor, 
and  of  the  way  in  which  his  statue  of 
Marshal  Montcornet  somehow  fails 
to  get  itself  turned  into  a  masterpiece.  Describing  the 
Pole  as  wasting  a  large  proportion  of  his  time  in  talk- 
ing about  the  statue  instead  of  working  at  it,  he  thus 
continues: "  He  talked  admirably  about  art, and  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world  he  maintained  his  reputation  as  a 
great  artist  by  his  powers  of  conversation  and  criti- 
cism. There  are  many  clever  men  in  Paris  who  spend 
their  lives  in  talking  themselves  out,  and  are  content 
with  a  sort  of  drawing-room  celebrity.  ...  At  the 
same  time,  these  half  artists  are  delightful;  men  like 
them  and  cram  them  with  praise ;  they  even  seem  su- 
perior to  the  true  artists,  who  are  taxed  with  conceit, 
unsociableness,  contempt  of  the  la  ws  of  society.  "Ben- 
venuto  Cellini  was  a  kind  of  Steinbock.  He  had  an  im- 
mense amount  of  energy,  but  he  did  not  concentrate 
it  and  send  it  through  the  right  channels  with  the  de- 
voted instincl:  of  the  great  artist.The  parallel  is  not  to 
be  overdone.  Indeed,  if  we  carry  it  too  far,  it  is  bound 
to  break  down,  for  Cellini  was  every  inch  a  man, 
and  there  is  a  deplorably  effeminate  weakness  about 


BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Wenceslas.  But  there  is  no  denying  that  where  the 
Italian  was  vulnerable  was  in  just  that  foible  which 
Balzac,  in  his  penetrating  way,  hits  off  so  well.  He 
talked  too  much.  He  was  of  too  impulsive  a  habit  to 
make  immortal  statues.  There  was  too  much  vehe- 
mence about  him,  he  used  too  many  gestures,  and 
it  seems  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  that  his 
fame  should  be  preserved  in  a  work  of  literature 
rather  than  in  a  work  of  art.  The  Autobiography  is 
his  best  monument,  better  even  than  the  Perseus. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  a  mistake  to  allow  this  fa6l  to  ob- 
scure the  very  interesting  question  of  his  relation  to 
Italian  art.  Too  often  has  eagerness  to  get  at  the 
Autobiography  inclined  writers  to  pass  indifferently 
over  Cellini's  achievements  as  a  goldsmith  and  sculp- 
tor. It  is  true  that  M.  Plon's  book  does  not  err  in 
this  direction,  and  that  only  eight  years  ago  Mr. 
C.  R.  Ashbee  took  the  pains  to  translate  Cellini's 
technical  "Trattati,"  and  to  print  his  version  in  lux- 
urious form.  But  when  the  Autobiography  is  at  all 
to  the  fore  it  seems  to  abate  discussion  of  the  things 
for  which  Cellini  himself  had,  after  all,  the  most  con- 
cern. I  think  it  is  worth  while,  therefore,  to  speak  of 
those  things  on  the  present  occasion. 

One  of  the  most  delightful  of  the  many  paradoxes 
of  the  Italian  Renaissance  is  its  treatment  of  the  pro- 
fessional idea.  Never  was  there  a  time  in  which  men 
were  keener  on  preserving  the  integrity  of  their  vari- 
ous guilds ;  the  youth  apprenticed  to  anyone  of  the  nu- 
merous branches  of  art  that  had  then  each  its  clearly 


ARTIST  AND  WRITER 

fixed  status  was  impelled  by  all  the  influences  of  the 
period  to  make  the  independence  and  the  importance 
of  his  chosen  branch  a  pointof  honour.  It  was  a  time 
of  intense  personal  pride.  Yet  it  was  a  time,  too,  of 
extraordinary  give  and  take  in  the  arts.  The  archi- 
tect and  the  sculptor,  for  example,  met  one  another 
halfway.  It  is  significant  that  in  the  very  dawn  of 
plastic  art  in  Italy  it  is  an  entirely  utilitarian  project 
that  stirs  creative  genius  to  activity.  It  is  as  an  archi- 
tect, no  less  than  as  a  sculptor,  that  Niccola  Pisano 
undertakes  to  construct  the  hexagonal  pulpit  for  the 
baptistery  at  Pisa,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  say 
where  the  architect  leaves  off  and  the  sculptor  begins 
in  the  transformation  of  this  tribune,  made  for  a  prac- 
tical purpose,  into  an  essentially  decorative  object.  In 
other  words,  when  the  journeyman  stone-carver  sub- 
sides into  the  background  and  the  sculptor — which  is 
to  say  the  stone-carver  of  individual  genius  — takes 
his  place, the  change  is  effected  amid  conditions  which 
keep  sculpture  a  craft  as  well  as  an  art;  and  this 
situation  endures  for  generations,  modified  in  many 
ways  as  different  types  of  personal  force  arise,  but 
true,  in  the  main ,  to  the  broad  instinct  at  which  we 
have  just  glanced.  That  instinct  was  a  sound  one. 
The  man  of  the  Renaissance  knew  that  art  embraced 
not  only  the  greater  but  the  lesser,  and  that  it  was 
as  much  worth  his  while,  when  the  chance  offered, 
to  do  an  ordinary  bit  of  craftsmanship  as  to  produce 
some  elaborate  tour  deforce.  Thus  you  find  the  pul- 
pits of  the  Pisani,  their  Fonte  Maggiore  at  Perugia, 

C  xiii  ] 


BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

or  Jacopo  della  Quercia's  Fonte  Gaia  at  Siena,  suc- 
ceeded by  triumphs  of  pure  craftsmanship  like  the 
pulpit  at  Prato  which  Donatello  and  Michelozzo  did 
together,  or  like  any  of  those  countless  sepulchral 
monuments  of  which  Desiderio's  tomb  for  Cardinal 
Marsuppini,  in  Santa  Croce,  is  perhaps  the  most  con- 
clusive type.  Verrocchio,  with  the  power  in  him  to  do 
a  thing  like  the  Colleoni  at  Venice,  approaches  with 
the  same  creative  ardour,  the  same  impassioned  feel- 
ing for  beauty,  not  only  that  heroic  equestrian  statue, 
but  the  Medici  tomb  in  the  sacristy  of  San  Lorenzo 
at  Florence,  a  tomb  of  wholly  formal  decoration.  The 
point  of  view  is  in  each  case  the  same.  "  Make  the 
work  beautiful/'  he  says,  "no  matter  what  its  form 
may  be/'  He  makes  it  so,  and  incidentally  he  helps 
to  establish  a  tradition.  The  spirit  of  the  man  of  genius 
was  shared,  in  a  measure,  even  by  the  mediocrity, 
and  as  you  look  over  the  whole  mass  of  Renaissance 
work  in  stone,  metal,  or,  for  that  matter,  any  mate- 
rial, you  are  struck  by  the  way  in  which  craftsman- 
ship is  raised  to  a  higher  power.  A  certain  largeness 
of  feeling  is  in  the  air,  and  a  lantern  wrought  by  some 
Florentine  to-day  unknown,  a  setting  given  to  a  jewel 
at  a  shop  whose  proprietor,  even  in  his  lifetime,  never 
had  any  celebrity  whatever,  bears  the  same  stamp 
that  you  find  on  the  noblest  productions  of  the  era. 
Why  was  that  stamp  not  recaptured  by  Cellini  ?  He 
had  the  sincerity  of  his  predecessors,  and  their  zeal. 
What  he  lacked  was  that  something,  next  to  impos- 
sible to  define,  which  seems  more  the  property  of  an 


ARTIST  AND  WRITER 

age  than  of  any  one  individual. 

It  is  the  fashion  in  these  scientific  days  to  put  the 
" document"  in  the  foreground  and  leave  "the  spirit 
of  things  "  to  take  care  of  itself,  as  a  volatile,  tricksy 
quality,  full  of  danger  for  the  unwary. "  There  never 
was  an  artistic  period,"  said  Mr.  Whistler.  "There 
never  was  an  art-loving  nation."  That  kind  of  a  re- 
mark wears  a  convincing  air.  For  a  moment  one  hesi- 
tates to  contradict.  But  he  who  hesitates  in  this  mat- 
ter is  unquestionably  lost.  You  cannot  put  your  fin- 
ger on  some  unmistakable  source  of  inspiration  in 
fifteenth-century  Italy  and  say  that  it  acted  automati- 
cally, making  masters  out  of  all  the  artists  coming 
within  the  range  of  its  influence.  But  you  can  dis- 
cern at  this  time  an  element  which  presently  disap- 
pears, a  general  atmosphere,  dominant  in  Italian  life, 
which,  for  the  artist,  serves  both  as  a  stimulus  and  as 
a  check  upon  his  professional  conscience.  This  atmo- 
sphere dies  down  as  the  great  body  of  creative  artists 
shrinks  in  size,  and  in  all  things,  in  politics  and  in 
social  life  as  well  as  in  art,  Italy  begins  to  show 
signs  of  exhaustion,  of  decadence.  Traditions  sur- 
vive, but  in  a  sadly  debilitated  condition.  Cellini  cher- 
ishes the  highest  ideals  of  goldsmithing,  and  it  is 
plain  from  the  opening  pages  of  his  treatise  on  that 
subject  that  he  considered  himself  as  one  of  the  line 
of  Ghiberti,Pollaiuolo,  Donatello  and  Verrocchio;  but 
he  was  nothing  of  the  sort.  The  gods  had  begun  to 
withdraw  their  gifts  from  Italy  when  Cellini  saw  the 
light  in  1500.  In  truth  they  had  lingered  in  lavish 

C  ™  ] 


BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

mood  for  a  long  time.  They  had  given  Italy  the 
Pisani  and  Jacopo  della  Quercia.  Then  had  come 
Ghiberti,  Brunelleschi,DonatelloandLucadella  Rob- 
bia  and  his  kin,  and,  as  though  this  were  not  enough, 
man  after  man  was  sent  into  the  world  to  make  Ital- 
ian sculpture  worthy  of  Italian  painting.  Besides  art- 
ists cast  in  giant  mould  like  Donatello  or  Verrocchio, 
there  were  any  number  of  sculptors  so  accomplished 
that  they  can  scarcely  be  dismissed  as  forming,  in  a 
colourless  way,  the  rank  and  file.  Higher  praise  than 
that  must  go  to  Desiderio  da  Settigano  or  the  Rosel- 
lini ;  to  Mino  or  to  Pollaiuolo;  to  Matteo  Civitali  or  to 
Benedetto  da  Maiano.  Nor  was  Tuscany  alone  thus 
bountifully  endowed.  Pisanello  and  Matteo  de  Pasti 
had  been  showing  at  Verona  how  the  Renaissance 
medal  might  be  made  to  rival  the  antique  coin.  Other 
masters  might  be  cited  from  other  regions. The  coun- 
try everywhere  had  more  or  less  reason  to  congratu- 
late itself  on  its  sculptors.  Then  the  effort  seems  to 
be  too  much  of  a  strain,  a  kind  of  blight  falls  upon 
plastic  art,  and  only  one  figure,  that  of  Michael  An- 
gelo,  continues  to  illustrate  the  grand  style  down 
into  the  sixteenth  century. 

It  is  as  though  fate  had  done  all  that  could  be  done 
to  place  models  of  what  sculpture  should  be  before 
Cellini,  but  had  grudged  him  the  voiceless  whisper, 
the  invisible  spark,  the  impalpable  something  in  the 
air,  which  had  thrilled  the  generations  just  preced- 
ing his  own,  and  had  caused  masterpieces  to  appear 
before  men  as  nature  causes  fruits  and  flowers  to 

C  xvi  ] 


ARTIST  AND  WRITER 

issue  forth  from  the  sun- warmed  earth.  In  a  word, 
Cellini's  limitations,  which  are  to  be  ascribed  first  and 
last  to  the  caprice  of  destiny,  are  understood  the  bet- 
ter if  we  remember  the  character  of  the  period  into 
which  he  was  born.  It  needed  a  fiercer,  more  mas- 
terful nature  than  his — and  his  was  masterful  and 
fierce  enough  in  all  conscience — to  conquer  the  dead- 
ening tendency  of  the  time.  One  might  say  that  it  was 
pathetic,  too, — if  pathos  had  not  a  certain  incongruity 
where  Cellini  is  concerned, — to  observe  the  depth 
and  strength  of  his  faculty  of  appreciation.  He  knew 
the  right  thing  when  it  was  put  before  him,  and  there 
is  nothing  more  ingratiating  about  him  than  the  gusto 
with  which  he  lauds  a  great  artist.  He  alludes  to 
Leonardo  as  "a  veritable  angel  incarnate;"  and  of 
"that  divinest  painter,"  MicKael  Angelo, he  speaks 
with  positively  passionate  warmth.  The  treatment  of 
the  moving  soldiers  in  the  famous  cartoon  of  "  The 
Bathers  "  moves  him  to  this  outburst : "  He  drew  them 
at  the  very  moment  the  alarm  is  sounded,  and  the 
men  all  naked  run  to  arms ;  so  splendid  is  their  a6lion 
that  nothing  survives  of  ancient  or  of  modern  art 
which  touches  the  same  lofty  point  of  excellence." 
When  Cosimo  de  Medici  asked  him  to  model  a  Per- 
seus for  the  Loggia  dei  Lanzi,  which  was  already 
adorned  by  Donatello's  "Judith"  and  Michael  An- 
gelo's  "  David,"  he  replied  after  this  fashion:  "  Most 
excellent,  my  lord,  upon  the  piazza  are  now  stand- 
ing works  by  the  great  Donatello  and  the  incompara- 
ble Michael  Angelo,  the  two  greatest  men  who  have 

C  xvii  3 


BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ever  lived  since  the  days  of  the  ancients.  But  since 
your  Excellence  encourages  my  model  with  such 
praise,  I  feel  the  heart  to  execute  it  at  least  thrice 
as  well  in  bronze."  Precisely — he  had  the  heart,  but 
that  was  not  enough.  For  his  readiness  to  apprehend 
the  true  stature  of  a  Michael  Angelo,  a  Donatello  or 
a  Leonardo  he  is  to  be  honoured,  especially  as  the 
taste  of  his  contemporaries,  while  still  impressed  with 
a  sense  of  Michael  Angelo's  grandeur,  steadily  drifted, 
all  through  the  sixteenth  century,  toward  such  types 
as  Bandinelli,  Ammanati,  John  of  Bologna  and  the 
like,  as  though  the  stars  in  their  courses  were  fight- 
ing to  prepare  the  way  for  the  seventeenth-century 
poseur,  Bernini.  But  Cellini's  superior  judgment  was 
not  matched  by  his  abilities,  and  even  in  his  admira- 
tions he  was  not  always  as  fortunate  as  he  was  en- 
lightened. There  is  a  kind  of  tragic  irony  in  the  enthu- 
siasm that  swept  him  to  the  feet  of  Michael  Angelo, 
who,  breathing  the  airs  of  an  apocalyptic  world,  was 
just  the  mighty  exemplar  for  a  delicate  craftsman  like 
Cellini  to  avoid. 

That  is  what,  as  an  artist,  Cellini  was,  a  delicate 
craftsman,  with  one  great  difference  between  him- 
self and  those  fifteenth-century  masters  with  whom, 
as  I  have  indicated,  art  and  craftsmanship  were  often 
made  one  and  the  same  thing.  He  could  not  give  to 
his  work,  even  at  its  finest,  that  exquisiteness  in 
grain,  that  subtle  beauty  of  surface,  that  haunting 
personal  note,  which  the  earlier  men  achieved  simply 
because,  as  it  seems  to  me,  their  whole  natures,  their 

xviii 


ARTIST  AND  WRITER 

very  souls,  were  in  harmony  with  the  tremendous 
inspiration  prevailing  in  the  life  about  them.  Pisanello 
can  give  one  of  his  portrait  medals  the  massive  dig- 
nity of  an  antique  sculpture  or  of  a  painting  by  Man- 
tegna.  Verrocchio,  making  the  Medici  tomb  of  San 
Lorenzo,  has  some  magic  in  his  fingers  which  satu- 
rates in  beauty  the  simple  leafage  of  bronze  with 
which  he  embellishes  the  porphyry  sarcophagus,  and 
that  touch  of  his  performs  the  same  mysterious  office 
for  the  network  of  bronze  rope  that  fills  up  the  rest 
of  the  opening  in  the  design.  Cellini  could  not  have 
made  one  of  those  medals,  he  could  not  have  made 
that  net  of  twisted  rope,  though  his  life  had  depended 
on  it.  It  was  his  genius,  instead,  to  be  supremely 
clever.  Read  the  pages  in  which  he  tells  how  to  do 
filigree  work,  how  to  set  an  emerald  or  to  tint  a 
diamond,  how  to  make  a  seal  or  a  medal,  and  you 
can  almost  catch  the  flash  of  the  shrewd  eye,  you 
can  almost  hear  the  self-confident,  dogmatic  voice  as 
it  exposes  to  you  some  of  the  secrets  of  the  trade. 
He  was  the  Rue  de  la  Paix  in  excelsis,  an  inspired 
shop-keeper,  not  an  inspired  artist.  He  could  do  any- 
thing he  liked — with  his  hands.  It  was  when  quali- 
ties less  ponderable  were  needed  that  he  was  at  a 
disadvantage.  Intelle6l, spirituality, fine  feeling, these 
are  the  resources  that  he  lacked  as  an  artist.  When 
he  produces  the  famous  salt-cellar  for  Francis  I.,  now 
at  Vienna,  he  makes  the  first  stage  of  the  work  an 
affair  of  reasonablyjust  proportions,  but  then  he  mo- 
dels the  figures  in  the  round  on  too  large  a  scale,  and 

C 


BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

in  style  as  well  as  in  bulk  detaches  them  from  the 
spirit  of  the  design  considered  as  a  goldsmith's  de- 
sign. He  is  both  goldsmith  and  sculptor  in  this  re- 
nowned piece,  but  awkwardly,  and  to  the  advantage 
of  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  A  master  of  the 
early  Renaissance  would  have  known  how  to  exploit 
both  professions,  on  an  occasion  like  this,  in  perfect 
harmony.  Cellini  is  without  the  necessary  poise.  Let 
him  do  pure  jeweller's  work,  let  him  design  a  cas- 
ket or  a  chalice,  and  he  is  tolerably  sure  of  himself. 
Give  him  a  commission  permitting  him  a  wider  scope, 
and,  in  his  impetuous  way,  he  flings  himself  upon  the 
task,  works  like  a  demon,  and  never  realizes,  as  he 
gazes  upon  the  finished  obje6l,that  he  has  just  missed 
striking  twelve. 

Possibly  his  ill  luck  is  thrown  into  sharper  relief 
for  us  through  the  very  fa6l  that  his  more  ambitious 
productions  form  such  a  small  group — there  is  little 
chance  for  flaws  to  be  overlooked.  The  Perseus  is, 
of  course,  the  salient  member  of  that  group,  but  be- 
fore alluding  to  it  I  must  refer  to  the  work  which 
has  always  seemed  to  me,  more  than  any  other,  to 
reflect  upon  Cellini  the  kind  of  credit  which  doubt- 
less he  most  craved,  the  kind  that  goes  to  the  sculp- 
tor in  the  stri6l  sense.  This  is  the  bust  of  Bindo  Al- 
toviti.  It  is  a  work  of  simple  dignity,  conceived  in  a 
virile  mood,  and  executed  without  that  teasing  of  the 
surfaces  which  is  elsewhere  so  apt  to  be  character- 
istic of  Cellini.  Michael  Angelo  thought  well  of  it, 
writing  to  Cellini  a  note  which  the  latter  quotes  with 


ARTIST  AND  WRITER 

undisguised  satisfaction.  "  My  dear  Benvenuto,"  he 
says,  "I  have  known  you  for  many  years  as  the 
greatest  goldsmith  of  whom  we  have  any  informa- 
tion ;  and  henceforward  I  shall  know  you  for  a  sculp- 
tor of  like  quality.  I  must  tell  you  that  Master  Bindo 
Altoviti  took  me  to  see  his  bust  in  bronze,  and  in- 
formed me  that  you  made  it.  I  was  greatly  pleased 
with  the  work ;  but  it  annoyed  me  to  notice  that  it 
was  placed  in  a  bad  light;  for  if  it  were  suitably 
illuminated,  it  would  show  itself  to  be  the  fine  per- 
formance that  it  is."  One  does  not  need  to  give  Mi- 
chael Angelo's  polite  expressions  to  a  junior  an  ex- 
aggerated value  in  order  to  find  in  them  the  evi- 
dence that  Cellini  had  surpassed  himself  in  this  bust. 
For  once  he  seems  to  have  fitted  his  style  to  his 
theme  and  to  have  carried  on  a  piece  of  work  from 
beginning  to  end  in  an  unqualifiedly  sculptural  vein. 
The  bust  of  Cosimo  de'  Medici  is  less  successful  be- 
cause it  is  less  simple.  The  ornamentation  is  over- 
done, and  the  whole  work  has  an  artificial,  even  the- 
atrical air.  When  he  was  portraying  Bindo  Altoviti 
it  is  obvious  that  he  worked  from  nature,  endeavour- 
ing merely  to  get  a  good  likeness  in  a  straightfor- 
ward way.  When  he  undertook  the  bust  of  Cosimo 
we  cannot  help  but  feel  that  there  was  hovering  in 
the  back  of  his  mind  a  notion  that  he  would  make 
his  patron  look  as  much  as  possible  like  a  Roman 
emperor.  How  often  was  he  betrayed  by  this  con- 
fusion of  mind !  Nature  should  have  had  her  chance, 
if  anywhere,  in  that  large  Nymph  of  Fontainebleau 

C  xxi  3 


BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

of  his,  in  which  the  opportunity  to  model  a  nude 
female  figure  at  full  length  should  have  put  him  on 
his  mettle,  but  the  figure  is  painfully  untrue  to  life, 
and  leaves  not  only  an  artificial  but  even  a  some- 
what vulgar  impression.  The  crucifix  in  the  Escurial 
escapes  this  last  danger,  but,  to  the  critical  eye,  its 
actual  value  as  a  work  of  religious  art  is  far  below 
its  repute.  Neither  as  a  study  of  anatomical  structure 
nor  as  an  interpretation  of  a  tragic  theme  does  it 
rise  above  an  ordinary  level.  There  remains  the 
bronze  in  the  Loggia  dei  Lanzi, — the  bronze  which 
probably  meant  more  to  him  than  anything  he  did 
in  the  course  of  his  whole  career. 

He  seems  to  have  been  attracted  at  once  by  the 
subject  when  Cosimo  proposed  it  to  him,  and,  as  we 
have  seen  from  the  words  to  the  Duke  already 
quoted,  he  was  fired  with  the  desire  to  show  that 
he  could  produce  a  statue  worthy  of  association  with 
works  by  Donatello  and  Michael  Angelo.  The  his- 
tory of  the  enterprise  is  sufficiently  traversed  in  the 
Autobiography  and  so  need  not  be  further  dealt 
with  here,  nor,  for  that  matter,  need  we  pause  very 
long  upon  the  Perseus  itself.  The  wax  model,  which 
is  still  preserved  at  Florence,  shows  that  Cellini 
started  with  a  capital  idea,  producing  a  lithe,  slen- 
der figure  of  good  proportions,  and  arranging  it, 
with  the  headless  body  trampled  under  foot,  in  a 
composition  both  picturesque  and  graceful.  If  we 
look  at  the  figure  in  the  Loggia,  enlarged,  and 
marked  everywhere  with  the  signs  of  Cellini's  meti- 


WAX    MODEL    FOR    THE.    PERSEUS 
(    FLORENCE    ) 


ARTIST  AND  WRITER 

culous  craftsmanship,  and  if,  as  we  look,  we  deliber- 
ately put  out  of  mind  the  whole  dramatic  story  of 
its  casting,  so  that  no  elements  of  personal  sympathy 
are  left  to  affect  our  view  of  the  matter,  we  are 
constrained  to  admit  that  the  sculptor  lost  his  grasp 
on  his  original  idea  as  the  work  went  on.  The  Per- 
seus should  have  been  executed  in  silver  on  a  mod- 
est scale,  it  should  have  been  made  not  a  statue  but 
a  statuette.  As  it  is,  Cellini  strove  in  vain  to  rise  to 
the  level  of  his  great  opportunity.  Once  more  the 
sculptor  and  the  craftsman  in  him  were  antipathetic 
where  they  should  have  worked  together,  and  he 
fell,  as  it  were,  between  two  stools.  The  Perseus 
is  brittle,  finikin,  where  it  should  be  heroic,  and  at 
the  same  time  it  is  badly  proportioned  and  heavy 
where  it  should  have  been  light  and  elegant.  Cel- 
lini was  in  his  prime  when  he  put  forth  this  dearest 
work  of  his  ambition,  and  by  it  his  rank  as  an  artist 
may  fairly  be  fixed.  It  is  the  subordinate  rank  of  a 
temperament  that  paid  the  penalty  of  its  own  ingra- 
tiating vivacity.  Cellini  himself,  in  his  account  of  his 
life,  suggests  that  he  was  not  steadfast  enough  to 
reach  perfection  in  any  form  of  art,  that  he  relied  too 
much  on  the  sudden  jet  of  emotion,  on  the  excitement 
which  goes  with  the  tour  de  force.  One  suspects  that 
he  would  sometimes  take  up  a  task  in  a  fury  of  inter- 
est and  then  execute  it  with  doubtful  success,  largely 
for  the  reason  that  it  had  ceased  to  appeal  to  him, 
only  a  sort  of  burning  pride  keeping  him  at  it.  It 
was  not  for  him  to  penetrate  gravely,  tenderly,  into 

xxiii 


BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

the  heart  of  things,  to  explore  the  secrets  of  nature 
in  a  passion  of  awed  delight,  and  then  to  realize 
some  splendid  conception  with  the  noble  authority 
of  a  Donatello,  a  Verrocchio  or  a  Michael  Angelo. 
But  he  was  to  win  his  reward  when,  in  his  fifty- 
eighth  year,  he  crowned  his  lifelong  indulgence  in 
what  he  himself  called  "natural  bragging"  with  the 
writing  of  his  Autobiography. 

There  are  half  a  dozen  different  points  of  view 
from  which  this  famous  book  appears  in  a  good  light. 
To  begin  with,  in  interesting  the  world  in  Cellini,  it 
has  interested  the  world  in  his  works,  and  has  thus 
fostered  the  fame  of  the  latter.  Secondly,  these  pages 
are  invaluable  for  the  pictures  they  contain  of  Italian 
society  in  the  author's  day.  He  touched  life  at  many 
points,  mingling  not  only  with  artists  but  with  princes 
and  prelates.  He  had  a  "devouring"  eye  and  a  good 
memory.  A  thing  once  seen  stayed  in  his  mind;  a 
thing  once  heard  by  him  was  well  remembered,  and 
when  he  dictated  his  memoirs  he  gave  them  the 
vitality  of  a  daily  journal.  Moreover,  he  was  of  the 
race  of  Boccaccio,  which  is  to  say  that  he  was  a  born 
story-teller,  a  man  who  naturally  dramatised  his  ex- 
periences as  he  came  to  relate  them,  making  the 
most  of  a  personality  or  a  situation,  and,  above  all, 
flinging  over  everything  an  air  of  reality,  of  move- 
ment. How  far  did  he  swerve  from  the  facls,  if  he 
swerved  at  all,  in  the  framing  of  this  wonderful  nar- 
rative? It  is  practically  impossible  to  say,  but  I  am 
not  sure  that  the  point  is,  in  the  last  resort,  of  any 

xxiv 


ARTIST  AND  WRITER 

serious  consequence.  The  late  John  Addington  Sy- 
monds  was  at  some  pains  to  demonstrate  that  Cellini 
was  neither  base  nor  a  liar.  He  made  out  an  excel- 
lent case  for  his  hero,  and  it  were  ungracious  to 
quarrel  with  his  conclusions,  for  Symonds  not  only  ,  c 
made  the  best  translation  of  the  Autobiography  that 
has  ever  been  produced,  but  was  so  saturated  with 
his  subject  through  years  of  preoccupation  with  Ital- 
ian art  and  history  that  his  opinion  necessarily  car- 
ries great  weight.  Yet  there  are  passages  in  Cellini's 
life  which  it  is  idle  to  estimate  as  having  any  justifi- 
cation whatever  in  morals,  and  I  cannot  for  the  life 
of  me  see  why,  in  the  circumstances,  we  should  as- 
sume that  he  was  not,  when  occasion  demanded,  a 
rousing  good  liar.  Why  should  he  not  have  been  a 
liar  ?  Is  a  man  who  is  capable  of  malicious  mischief, 
of  murder,  and  of  ways  of  living  which  are  perhaps 
better  left  unmentioned,  any  the  better  company  be- 
cause he  always  told  the  truth,  or  any  the  worse 
because  he  now  and  then  lied?  The  question  is  im- 
material. It  is  not  by  a  careful  balancing  of  his  vir- 
tues and  his  vices  that  we  get  nearer  to  Cellini,  and 
the  more  willing  to  enjoy  his  book.  The  only  thing 
to  do  is  to  accept  once  and  for  all  the  fact  that  man- 
ners and  morals  in  the  sixteenth  century  were  totally 
different  from  morals  and  manners  in  our  own,  and 
then  to  approach  Benvenuto  Cellini  as  a  human  being. 
Our  examination  of  his  work  as  an  artist  has  shown 
clearly  enough  that  he  was  no  demi-god.  Perusal  of 
the  Autobiography  only  makes  us  the  more  sure  of 

C  xxv  ] 


BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

this.  No,  this  book  is  to  be  read  for  what  it  is,  a  work 
in  the  same  category  with  the  memoirs  of  Casanova, 
"Gil  Bias/'  and  those  other  classics  which,  whether 
they  be  made  of  history  or  of  fiction,  appeal  to  the 
reader  as  being  all  compact  of  the  very  blood  and 
bone  of  human  experience. 

Cellini  is  a  master  of  picaresque  literature.  He 
loves  adventure,  and  nothing  in  the  world  gives 
him  quite  the  joy  that  he  gets  from  a  hand-to-hand 
fight.  He  is  happy  when  he  is  at  work;  happy  when 
he  is  foregathering  with  Giulio  Romano  or  some 
other  boon  companion  in  Florentine  Bohemia,  when 
the  day's  task  is  done;  happy  when  he  is  arguing 
with  a  patron ;  happy  when  he  is  driving  his  dagger 
up  to  the  hilt  in  the  neck  of  his  enemy ;  happy,  in 
short,  whenever  anything  is  toward  that  convinces 
him  that  he  is  alive  and  playing  the  part  of  a  man. 
As  he  looks  back  over  it  all,  his  being  thrills  with 
an  ineffable  gusto,  and  small  blame  to  him  if  the 
story  loses  nothing  in  the  telling.  Take,  for  exam- 
ple, the  fracas  which  is  soon  reached  in  his  narrative, 
the  one  following  Gherardo  Guasconti's  insult.  Ben- 
venuto  swoops  down  upon  Gherardo  in  the  midst 
of  his  family  like  an  avenging  flame.  "I  stabbed 
him  in  the  breast/'  he  says,  "  piercing  doublet  and 
jerkin  through  and  through  to  the  shirt,  without, 
however,  grazing  his  flesh  or  doing  him  the  least 
harm  in  the  world."  He  is  promptly  set  upon  in  the 
street  by  "more  than  twelve  persons,"  all  of  them 
crudely  but  effectively  armed,  and  the  fight  waxes 

C  xxvi  j 


ARTIST  AND  WRITER 

Homeric.  "  When  I  got  among  them,  raging  like  a 
mad  bull,  I  flung  four  or  five  to  the  earth,  and  fell 
down  with  them  myself,  continually  aiming  my 
dagger  now  at  one  and  now  at  another.  Those 
who  remained  upright  plied  both  hands  with  all 
their  force,  giving  it  me  with  hammers,  cudgels, 
and  anvil."  Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  Cellini  and 
all  of  his  adversaries  emerged  from  this  tremendous 
conflict  absolutely  unscathed.  Cellini  attributes  this 
to  the  merciful  intervention  of  a  divine  power.  We 
know  better.  We  know  that  the  fight  was,  of  course, 
not  anything  like  so  fierce  as  Cellini  represents  it 
to  be.  But  would  we  have  the  record  changed  ?  Not 
for  worlds !  It  is  just  this  rich,  full-bodied  quality  in 
him  that  makes  him  the  absorbing  narrator  that  he  is. 
He  persuades  you,  too,  because  he  puts  what  he 
has  to  say  in  such  an  artless  manner.  If  he  lies  it  is 
not  in  cold  blood,  but  with  the  perfect  good  faith  of 
a  Tartarin.  His  story  of  the  sack  of  Rome  and  of 
his  achievements  on  the  beleaguered  walls  of  the 
city  is  superb.  Perhaps  he  did  indeed  fire  the  shot 
that  killed  the  Constable  of  Bourbon.  Perhaps  he 
lied  about  the  shot,  and  knew  he  lied.  But  he  tells 
of  the  incident  with  a  simple  sincerity  that  all  but 
disarms  the  sceptic.  It  is  the  same  with  his  descrip- 
tion of  his  labours  in  the  lodging  to  which  he  with- 
drew to  melt  down  the  gold  settings — some  two 
hundred  pounds  of  them — from  which  he  had,  un- 
der the  direction  of  Clement,  detached  the  Papal 
jewels.  According  to  the  Autobiography,  Cellini 

xxvii 


BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

would  put  a  quantity  of  gold  into  the  pot,  and  then, 
turning  to  his  guns,  cause  "  all  sorts  of  unexpected 
mischief  in  the  trenches."  Again  we  say  "  Perhaps," 
and  again,  in  the  next  moment,  we  grant  that 
whether  Cellini  served  as  artilleryman  and  gold- 
smith in  the  same  moment  or  not, — a  pretty  tall 
order, — he  draws  a  picture  of  the  scene  that  for 
vividness  and  dramatic  interest  is  unimpeachable. 
Curiously,  too,  his  picture  apparently  causes  him  no 
trouble  in  the  painting.  This  maker  of  literature  was 
never  a  literary  man,  never  for  even  the  smallest 
fraction  of  a  second.  It  was  probably  with  no  very 
definite  consciousness  of  just  what  he  was  doing 
that  he  gave  his  recollections  their  extraordinarily 
tangible  form.  You  could  not  say  of  him  that  he 
understood  the  art  of  omission,  for  that  implies  a 
professional  faculty,  the  instinct  of  the  man  of  let- 
ters ;  yet  one  of  the  great  sources  of  Cellini's  charm 
is  this  gift  for  painting  an  episode  without  a  super- 
fluous touch.  The  commentator  selecting  an  illus- 
tration is  tempted,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  take 
one  showing  Cellini  in  a  crisis  of  some  sort,  to 
choose  the  "important"  passage;  but  I  think  we  do 
him  better  justice  if  we  take  him  in  more  familiar 
mood,  if  we  take  him  when  he  is  treating  of  some 
ordinary  affair  in  his  daily  life.  There  is  the  tale  of 
his  meeting  with  Madonna  Porzia  at  the  Farnesina, 
and  of  her  giving  him  a  jewel  to  set.  Flaubert  him- 
self, slaving  his  hardest,  could  not  have  approached 
the  lucidity  and  the  vitality  of  those  three  or  four 

xxviii 


ARTIST  AND  WRITER 

pages.  The  way  in  which  the  artist  and  the  lady  met, 
the  tone  she  used  toward  him,  and  her  exit  from  the 
room  in  which  he  stayed  on  to  finish  the  drawing 
he  was  making  from  a  figure  in  the  famous  ceiling 
decoration — all  this  is  sketched  with  the  animation 
of  life  itself;  and  Benvenuto's  succeeding  labours 
over  the  jewel,  and  his  rivalry  with  Lucagnolo,  are 
handled  with  the  same  power.  Very  little  space  is 
given  to  the  subject,  but  we  are  made,  within  that 
little  space,  to  live  a  part  of  Cellini's  life.  Glance, 
too,  at  the  note,  less  than  a  page  long,  in  which  he 
tells  of  going  to  see  Michael  Angelo  in  Rome,  and 
suggesting  that  the  great  man  return  to  Florence 
and  the  service  of  Duke  Cosimo.  Little  is  said. 
Michael  Angelo  looks  his  interlocutor  hard  in  the 
face  and  briefly  answers  him  with  a  question,  smil- 
ing sarcastically  the  while.  Cellini  is  pressing,  where- 
upon Michael  Angelo  creates  a  diversion  by  turn- 
ing to  his  simple-minded  servant.  The  visitor  gives 
up  his  mission  in  despair,  but  he  laughs  as,  without 
saying  farewell,  he  goes  from  the  house.  It  is  odd, 
but  somehow  this  casual  fragment,  which  tells  prac- 
tically nothing,  yet  tells  everything.  The  leonine 
head  of  Michael  Angelo  turns  toward  us  in  the 
dusk  of  the  studio,  and  we  see  that  sarcastic  smile. 
This,  then,  is  the  supreme  merit  of  the  Autobio- 
graphy— that  it  has  the  dramatic  reality  for  which 
we  look,  as  a  rule,  only  to  the  creative  artists  in 
literature.  As  for  the  stuff  of  the  narrative,  Cellini 
may  have  been  born  too  late  to  witness  the  richest 

C  xxix  ] 


BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

developments  of  the  Renaissance,  but  there  were 
still  great  spirits  on-  earth  sojourning  when  he  was 
born,  and  even  those  public  figures  that  were  not 
precisely  great  had  characteristics,  or  filled  posi- 
tions, significant  to  the  modern  reader.  Cellini  fills 
his  canvas  with  a  generous  hand.  He  is  himself  his 
best  theme,  but  he  draws  a  friend  or  an  enemy  with 
the  same  care  that  he  bestows  upon  his  own  traits 
or  mischances,  and  though  he  has  a  due  sense  of 
the  powers  of  the  great  ones  with  whom  he  comes 
in  contact,  it  is  with  a  quite  unhampered  brush  that 
he  introduces  Pope  or  mundane  potentate  upon  the 
scene.  He  speaks  of  artists  and  their  work  with  the 
intimate  accent  of  Vasari,  and  with  a  robuster, 
warmer,  more  roughly  human  element  of  appreci- 
ation in  his  voice.  He  is,  as  I  said  at  the  beginning, 
every  inch  a  man,  and  it  is  a  man's  report  of  what 
he  did  and  felt  and  saw  that  he  gives  us, — a  report 
wanting  in  the  niceties  of  literary  form,  darkened 
by  prejudice  and  passion,  but,  in  its  spirit,  a  thing 
genuine  as  the  man  himself  was  genuine. 


INTRODUCTION 
BY  JOHN  ADDINGTON  SYMONDS 


COSIMO   DE    MEDICI 

WITH     CELLINI    AND    OTHER    ARTISTS    AND    ARCHITECTS 
( VASAR  I  ) 


INTRODUCTION 

BY  JOHN  ADDINGTON  SYMONDS 


HE  translator  of  an  autobiography, 
especially  if  it  be  a  long  one  like 
Cellini's,  or  like  Rousseau's  Confes- 
sions, enjoys  very  special  opportuni- 
ties for  becoming  acquainted  with  the 
mind  and  temper  of  its  writer.  No 
other  method  of  study,  however  conscientious,  can 
be  compared  in  this  particular  respe6l  with  the  method 
of  translation ;  in  no  other  way  is  it  possible  to  get 
such  knowledge  of  a  man's  mental  and  emotional 
habits,  to  judge  the  value  of  his  accent  and  intona- 
tion so  accurately,  or  to  form  by  gradual  and  subtle 
processes  so  sympathetic  a  conception  of  his  nature. 
The  translator  is  obliged  to  live  for  weeks  and  months 
in  close  companionship  with  his  author.  He  must  bend 
his  own  individuality  to  the  task  of  expressing  what 
is  characteristic  in  that  of  another.  He  tastes  and  ana- 
lyses every  turn  of  phrase  in  order  to  discover  its 
exacl  significance.  He  taxes  the  resources  of  his  own 
language,  so  far  as  these  may  be  at  his  command, 
to  reproduce  the  most  evasive  no  less  than  the  most 
salient  expressions  of  the  text  before  him.  In  the  case 
even  of  a  poem  or  a  dissertation,  he  ought,  upon  this 
method,  to  arrive  at  more  precise  conclusions  than 
the  student  who  has  only  been  a  reader.  But  when 
the  text  is  a  self-revelation,  when  it  is  a  minute  and 
voluminous  autobiography,  he  will  have  done  little 

C   3  1 


INTRODUCTION 

short  of  living  himself  for  awhile  into  the  personal- 
ity of  another.  Supposing  him  at  the  same  time  to  be 
possessed  of  any  discernment,  he  will  be  able  after- 
wards to  speak  of  the  man  whose  spirit  he  has  at- 
tempted to  convey,  with  the  authority  of  one  who  has 
learned  to  know  him  intus  et  in  cute — bones,  mar- 
row, flesh,  and  superficies.  Nor  is  the  translator  ex- 
posed to  the  biographer's  weakness  for  overvaluing 
his  subje6l.  He  pretends  to  no  discoveries,  has  taken 
no  brief  for  or  against  the  character  it  is  his  duty  to 
reproduce,  has  set  up  no  full-length  portrait  on  the 
literary  easel,  to  be  painted  by  the  aid  of  documents, 
and  with  a  certain  preconceived  conception  of  pic- 
torial harmony.  In  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  enter 
into  personal  intercourse  with  any  one  whose  voice 
we  have  not  heard,  whose  physical  influences  we 
have  not  been  affedled  by,  in  whose  living  presence 
we  have  not  thought,  and  felt,  and  a6led,  in  so  far 
the  translator  of  a  book  like  Cellini's  Memoirs  or 
Rousseau's  Confessions  can  claim  to  be  familiar  and 
intimate  with  its  author. 

ii 

I  have  recently  put  myself  into  these  very  confiden- 
tial relations  with  Cellini,  having  made  the  completely 
new  English  version  of  his  autobiography  to  which 
the  following  pages  serve  as  introduction.  I  think 
that  I  am  therefore  justified  in  once  more  handling 
a  somewhat  hackneyed  subject,  and  in  rectifying 
what  I  have  previously  published  concerning  it.1 
A  book  which  the  great  Goethe  thought  worthy 

1  Renaissance  in  Italy,  'vol.  Hi.  ch.  'viii. 

C   4] 


INTRODUCTION 

of  translating  into  German  with  the  pen  of  Faust 
and  Wilhelm  Meister,  a  book  which  Auguste  Comte 
placed  upon  his  very  limited  list  for  the  perusal  of 
reformed  humanity,  is  one  with  which  we  have  the 
right  to  be  occupied,  not  once  or  twice,  but  over 
and  over 'again.  It  cannot  lose  its  freshness.  What 
attracted  the  encyclopaedic  minds  of  men  so  differ- 
ent as  Comte  and  Goethe  to  its  pages  still  remains 
there.  This  attractive  or  compulsive  quality,  to  put 
the  matter  briefly,  is  the  flesh  and  blood  reality  of 
Cellini's  self-delineation.  A  man  stands  before  us  in 
his  Memoirs  unsophisticated,  unembellished,  with  all 
his  native  faults  upon  him,  and  with  all  his  potent 
energies  portrayed  in  the  veracious  manner  of  Velas- 
quez, with  bold  strokes  and  animated  play  of  light 
and  colour.  No  one  was  less  introspective  than  this 
child  of  the  Italian  Renaissance.  No  one  was  less 
occupied  with  thoughts  about  thinking  or  with  the 
presentation  of  psychological  experience.  Vain, osten- 
tatious, self-laudatory,  and  self-engrossed  as  Cellini 
was,  he  never  stopped  to  analyse  himself.  He  at- 
tempted no  artistic  blending  of  Dtchtung  und  Wahr- 
heit;  the  word  "confessions"  could  not  have  escaped 
his  lips ;  a  Journal  Intime  would  have  been  incom- 
prehensible to  his  fierce,  virile  spirit.  His  autobio- 
graphy is  the  record  of  action  and  passion.  Suffering, 
enjoying,  enduring,  working  with  restless  activity; 
hating,  loving,  hovering  from  place  to  place  as  im- 
pulse moves  him ;  the  man  presents  himself  dramati- 
cally by  his  deeds  and  spoken  words,  never  by  his 
ponderings  or  meditative  breedings .  It  is  this  healthy 
externality  which  gives  its  great  charm  to  Cellini's 

I  5  D 


INTRODUCTION 

self-portrayal  and  renders  it  an  imperishable  docu- 
ment for  the  student  of  human  nature. 

In  addition  to  these  solid  merits,  his  life,  as  Horace 
Walpole  put  it,  is  "more  amusing  than  any  novel." 
We  have  a  real  man  to  deal  with — a  man  so  real- 
istically brought  before  us  that  we  seem  to  hear  him 
speak  and  see  him  move;  a  man,  moreover,  whose 
eminently  characteristic  works  of  art  in  a  great 
measure  still  survive  among  us.  Yet  the  adventures 
of  this  potent  human  actuality  will  bear  comparison 
with  those  of  Gil  Bias,  or  the  Comte  de  Monte 
Cristo,  or  Quentin  Durward,  or  Les  Trois  Mousque- 
taires,  for  their  variety  and  ever-pungent  interest. 

In  point  of  language,  again,  Cellini  possesses  an 
advantage  which  places  him  at  least  upon  the  level 
of  the  most  adroit  romance-writers.  Unspoiled  by 
literary  training,  he  wrote  precisely  as  he  talked, 
with  all  the  sharp  wit  of  a  born  Florentine,  heedless 
of  grammatical  construction,  indifferent  to  rhetorical 
effects,  attaining  unsurpassable  vividness  of  narration 
by  pure  simplicity.  He  was  greatly  helped  in  gain- 
ing the  peculiar  success  he  has  achieved  by  two  cir- 
cumstances ;  first,  that  he  dictated  nearly  the  whole 
of  his  Memoirs  to  a  young  amanuensis ;  secondly,  that 
the  distinguished  academical  writer  to  whose  correc- 
tion he  submitted  them  refused  to  spoil  their  ingenu- 
ous grace  by  alterations  or  stylistic  improvements. 
While  reading  his  work,  therefore,  we  enjoy  some- 
thing of  that  pleasure  which  draws  the  folk  of  East- 
ern lands  to  listen  to  the  recitation  of  Arabian  Nights' 
entertainments. 


INTRODUCTION 

m 

But  what  was  the  man  himself?  It  is  just  this  ques- 
tion which  I  have  half  promised  to  answer,  imply- 
ing that,  as  a  translator,  I  have  some  special  right 
to  speak  upon  the  topic. 

Well,  then:  I  seem  to  know  Cellini  first  of  all  as 
a  man  possessed  by  intense,  absorbing  egotism ;  vio- 
lent, arrogant,  self-assertive,  passionate;  conscious 
of  great  gifts  for  art,  physical  courage,  and  personal 
address.  Without  having  read  a  line  of  Machiavelli, 
he  had  formed  the  same  ideal  of  virtu  or  manly  force 
of  character  as  the  author  of  The  Prince.  To  be  self- 
reliant  in  all  circumstances ;  to  scheme  and  strike,  if 
need  be,  in  support  of  his  opinion  or  his  right;  to 
take  the  law  into  his  own  hands  for  the  redress  of 
injury  or  insult:  this  appeared  to  him  the  simple  duty 
of  an  honourable  man.  But  he  had  nothing  of  the 
philosopher's  calm,  the  diplomatist's  prudence,  the 
general's  strategy,  or  the  courtier's  self-restraint. 
On  the  contrary,  he  possessed  the  temperament  of 
a  born  artist,  blent  in  almost  equal  proportions  with 
that  of  a  born  bravo.  Throughout  the  whole  of  his 
tumultuous  career  these  two  strains  contended  in  his 
nature  for  mastery.  Upon  the  verge  of  fifty-six,  when 
a  man's  blood  has  generally  cooled,  we  find  that  he 
was  released  from  prison  on  bail,  and  bound  over 
to  keep  the  peace  for  a  year  with  some  enemy  whose 
life  was  probably  in  danger;  and  when  I  come  to 
speak  about  his  homicides,  it  will  be  obvious  that 
he  enjoyed  killing  live  men  quite  as  much  as  cast- 
ing bronze  statues. 

C   7] 


INTRODUCTION 

IV 

Both  the  artist  and  the  bravo  were  characteristic  and 
typical  products  of  the  Italian  Renaissance.  The  gen- 
ius of  the  race  expressed  itself  at  that  epoch  even 
more  saliently  in  the  fine  arts  than  in  scholarship  or 
literature.  At  the  same  time  the  conditions  of  soci- 
ety during  what  I  have  elsewhere  called  "the  Age 
of  the  Despots"  favoured  the  growth  of  lawless  ad- 
venturers, who  made  a  practice  of  violence  and  lived 
by  murder.  Now  these  two  prominent  types  of  the 
nation  and  the  period  were  never  more  singularly 
combined  than  in  Cellini.  He  might  stand  as  a  full- 
blown specimen  of  either.  Sensitive,  impulsive,  rash 
of  speech,  hasty  in  action,  with  the  artist's  suscep- 
tibility and  the  bravo's  heat  of  blood,  he  injured  no 
one  more  than  himself  by  his  eccentricities  of  tem- 
per. Over  and  over  again  did  he  ruin  excellent  pro- 
spects by  some  piece  of  madcap  folly.  Yet  there  is  no 
trace  in  any  of  his  writings  that  he  ever  laid  his  mis- 
adventures to  the  proper  cause.  He  consistently  poses 
as  an  injured  man,  whom  malevolent  scoundrels  and 
malignant  stars  conspired  to  persecute.  Nor  does  he 
do  this  with  any  bad  faith.  His  belief  in  himself  re- 
mained as  firm  as  adamant,  and  he  candidly  con- 
ceived that  he  was  under  the  special  providence  of 
a  merciful  and  loving  God,  who  appreciated  his  high 
and  virtuous  qualities. 

On  one  occasion,  after  a  more  than  customary  out- 
break of  violent  speech,  the  Lucchese  ambassador 
remarked  to  his  patron,  Cosimo  de'  Medici,  "That 
Benvenuto  of  yours  is  a  terrible  man ! "  "Yes,"  an- 


INTRODUCTION 

swered  the  Duke,  "  he  is  far  more  terrible  than  you 
imagine.  Well  were  it  for  him  if  he  were  a  little  less 
so,  for  then  he  would  have  possessed  much  which 
he  now  lacks."1  Cellini  reports  this  speech  with  satis- 
faction; he  is  proud  to  be  called  terrible — a  word 
which  then  denoted  formidable  vehemence.2  On  an- 
other occasion  he  tells  us  how  Pope  Paul  III.  was 
willing  to  pardon  him  for  an  outrageous  murder  com- 
mitted in  the  streets  of  Rome.  One  of  the  Pope's  gen- 
tlemen submitted  that  this  was  showing  unseasonable 
clemency. "  You  do  not  understand  the  matter  as  well 
as  I  do,"  replied  his  Holiness. "  I  must  inform  you  that 
men  like  Benvenuto,  unique  in  their  profession,  are 
not  bound  by  the  laws/'3  That  sentence  precisely 
paints  Cellini's  own  conception  of  himself;  and  I  be- 
lieve that  something  to  the  like  effecl:  may  really 
have  been  spoken  by  Pope  Paul.  Certainly  our  art- 
ist's frequent  homicides  and  a<5ts  of  violence  were 
condoned  by  great  princes,  who  wished  to  avail  them- 
selves of  his  exceptional  ability.  Italian  society  ad- 
mired the  bravo  almost  as  much  as  Imperial  Rome 
admired  the  gladiator;  it  also  assumed  that  genius 
combined  with  force  of  character  released  men  from 
the  shackles  of  ordinary  morality.  These  points  are 
so  clear  to  any  student  of  the  sixteenth  century  that 
I  need  not  here  enlarge  upon  them.  It  is  only  ne- 

1  Vita  dl  Benvenuto  Cellini,  lib.  it.  ch.  c. 

*  Compare  the  following  passage  from  a  memorandum  'written  by  Cellini :  "Mifu 

risposto  da  un  gran  gentilhuomo  di  corte,  il  quale  non  mi  disse  altro  se  nan  che  to  era 

un  terribile  huomo  ;  e  repricandani  piii  volte  questo  name  di  terribile,  to  gli  risposi 

che  i  terribli  si  erano  quegli  strumenti  che  si  empierano  di  incenso  sol  per  honor  are 

Iddio."'  —  Trattati,  &fr.,  p.  xlii. 

3  Vita  di  Benvenuto  Cellini,  lib.  i.  ch.  Ixxiv. 

L  9l 


INTRODUCTION 

cessary  to  keep  them  steadily  in  mind  while  forming 
an  estimate  of  Cellini's  temperament  and  conduct ; 
at  the  same  time  we  must  not  run  to  the  conclusion 
that  people  of  his  stamp  were  common,  even  at  that 
time,  in  Italy.  We  perceive  plainly  from  his  self-com- 
placent admissions  that  the  peculiar  hybrid  between 
the  gifted  artist  and  the  man  of  blood  which  he  ex- 
hibited was  regarded  as  something  not  quite  normal. 


Such  being  the  groundwork  of  Cellini's  nature,  it 
follows  as  a  necessary  consequence  that  his  self- 
conceit  was  prodigious.  Each  circumstance  of  his  life 
appeared  to  him  a  miracle.  Great  though  his  talents 
were,  he  vastly  overrated  them,  and  set  a  mon- 
strously exaggerated  value  on  his  works  of  art. 
The  same  qualities  made  him  a  fierce  and  bitter 
rival:  he  could  not  believe  that  any  one  with  whom 
he  came  into  collision  had  the  right  to  stand  beside 
him.  This  did  not  prevent  him  from  being  a  clear- 
sighted and  impartial  critic.  His  admiration  for  Mi- 
chel Angelo  Buonarroti  amounted  to  fanaticism.  He 
properly  appreciated  Raphael,  and  gave  the  just 
amount  of  praise  to  Sansovino,Primaticcio,  and  Rosso 
— three  artists  with  whom  he  was  not  on  the  best  of 
terms.  Nor  will  any  one  deny  that  his  unfavourable 
estimates  of  Bandinelli  and  Ammanati  were  justified. 
Indeed,  contemporaries  acknowledged  the  whole- 
someness  of  his  sound,  outspoken  criticism.  When 
Vasari's  abominable  frescoes  on  the  cupola  of  the 
Florentine  cathedral  were  exposed  to  view,  the  witty 
Lasca  wrote  as  follows: 

10 


INTRODUCTION 

"Purfra  color  ^  che  son  di  vita  privi, 
Vivo  vorrei  Benvenuto  Cellini, 
Che  senza  alcun  ritegno  o  barbezzale 
Delle  cose  malfatte  dicea  male^ 
E  la  cupola  al  mondo  singolare 
Non  si  potea  di  lodar  mai  saziare; 
E  la  solea  chiamare, 
Alzandola  alle  stelle, 
La  maraviglia  delle  cose  belle; 
Certo  non  capirebbe  or  nella  pelle, 
In  tal  guisa  dipintala  veggendo; 
E  saltando  e  correndo  e  fulminando^ 
S'  andrebbe  querelando, 
E  per  tutto  gridando  ad  alta  voce, 
Giorgin  a"  Arezzo  metterebbe  in  croce."  * 

VI 

In  spite  of  his  vehemence  and  passion,  Cellini  had 
not  depth  or  tenacity  of  feeling.  His  amours  were  nu- 
merous, but  volatile  and  indiscriminate.  As  a  friend  he 
seems  to  have  been  somewhat  uncertain ;  not  treach- 
erous, but  wayward.  Hospitable  indeed  and  gener- 
ous he  proved  himself  by  his  conduct  toward  Ital- 
ians in  Paris,  and  by  his  thoroughgoing  kindness 
for  the  Sputasenni  family  in  Florence.  Still,  if  any- 
thing, either  in  k>ve  or  comradeship,  crossed  his  hu- 
mour, he  sacrificed  emotion  to  vanity.  Like  many 
egotistical  people,  he  extended  the  affection  he  felt 

1  "  Fain  'would  I  recall  to  life  Benvenuto  Cellini,  iuho  ^without  reserve  or  restraint 
spoke  evil  of  things  ill  done ;  he  used  to  exalt  our  cupola  with  indefatigable  praise 
as  something  unique  in  the  world  j  he  called  it  the  miracle  of  beauteous  master- 
pieces. Assuredly  that  man  'would  jump  out  of  his  skin  'with  rage  to  see  it  thus  be- 
daubed ;  leaping  and  running  and  fulminating,  he  'would  go  about  the  city  uttering 
his  indignation  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  and  'would  crucify  this  little  George  of 
Arezzo." 

c »  : 


INTRODUCTION 

for  himself  to  the  members  of  his  immediate  family. 
On  the  whole,  he  was  a  good  and  dutiful  son,  al- 
though he  caused  his  poor  old  father  great  uneasi- 
ness by  running  away  from  home,  because  one  of 
his  sisters  had  given  his  new  suit  of  clothes  to  his 
only  brother.  For  this  brother,  a  brave  soldier  of  the 
same  stormy  sort  as  Benvenuto,  he  entertained  at 
the  same  time,  and  always,  a  really  passionate  love. 
The  young  man, named  Cecchino,  assassinated  a  con- 
stable in  the  streets  of  Rome,  and  was  wounded  in 
the  squabble  which  ensued.  He  died  of  the  wound; 
but  though  the  officer  who  fired  his  arquebuse  had 
done  this  only  in  self-defence,  Benvenuto  tracked 
him  down  one  night  and  murdered  him.  Not  a  syl- 
lable of  remorse  escapes  his  lips.  Men  like  himself 
•and  Cecchino  had  the  right  to  slay ;  and  if  their  op- 
ponents managed  to  checkmate  such  virtuous  fel- 
lows, they  must  be  punished.  The  best  recorded 
a6lions  of  Cellini  concern  his  conduct  toward  a  sis- 
ter and  six  daughters,  for  whose  sake  he  quitted  a 
splendid  situation  in  France,  and  whom  he  supported 
by  his  industry  at  Florence;  yet  he  does  not  boast 
about  this  sustained  and  unselfish  exercise  of  domes- 
tic piety.  He  was,  finally,  much  attached  to  his  legi- 
timate children,  though  almost  brutally  indifferent 
about  a  natural  daughter  whom  he  left  behind  in 
Paris. 

VII 

The  religious  feelings  of  this  singular  personage  de- 
serve to  be  considered.  They  were  indisputably  sin- 
cere, and  I  have  no  doubt  that  Cellini  turned,  as  he 

c  I*  n 


INTRODUCTION 

asserts,  in  all  his  difficulties  with  hearty  faith  to  God. 
But,  like  the  majority  of  Italians  in  his  age,  he  kept 
religion  as  far  apart  from  morality  as  can  be.  His 
God  was  not  the  God  of  holiness,  chastity ,  and  mercy, 
but  the  fetish  who  protected  him  and  understood  him 
better  than  ungrateful  men.  He  was  emphatically, 
moreover,  the  God  who  "  aids  such  folk  as  aid  them- 
selves"— a  phrase  frequently  used  in  these  Memoirs. 
The  long  and  painful  imprisonment  which  Cellini  en- 
dured without  just  cause  in  the  Castle  of  S.  Angelo 
made  a  deep  and,  to  some  extent,  a  permanent  im- 
pression on  his  mind.  He  read  the  Bible  and  com- 
posed psalms,  was  visited  by  angels  and  blessed  with 
consolatory  visions.  About  the  truth  of  these  expe- 
riences there  is  no  doubt.  The  man's  impressible, 
imaginative  nature  lent  itself  to  mysticism  and  spir- 
itual exaltation  no  less  readily  than  to  the  delirium 
of  homicidal  excitement.  He  was  just  as  inclined  to 
see  heaven  opened  when  dying  of  misery  in  a  dun- 
geon as  to  "see  red/'  if  I  may  use  that  French  term, 
when  he  met  an  enemy  upon  the  burning  squares 
of  Rome  in  summer.  The  only  difference  was,  that 
in  the  former  case  he  posed  before  himself  as  a 
martyr  gifted  with  God's  special  favour,  in  the  lat- 
ter as  a  righteous  and  wronged  hero,  whose  hand 
and  dagger  God  would  guide.  There  was  nothing 
strange  in  this  mixture  of  piety  and  murder.  The 
assassin  of  Lorenzino  de'  Medici — whose  short  nar- 
rative, by  the  way,  reads  like  a  chapter  of  Cel- 
lini's Memoirs — relates  how,  while  he  was  running 
drenched  with  blood  through  Venice  after  the  event, 
he  took  refuge  in  a  crowded  church,  and  fervently 

C   13] 


INTRODUCTION 

commended  himself  to  the  Divine  protection.  Homi- 
cide, indeed,  was  then  considered  a  venial  error,  and 
several  incidents  might  be  cited  from  this  autobio- 
graphy proving  that  men  devoted  to  the  religious 
life  screened  murderers  red-handed  after  the  com- 
mission of  what  we  should  regard  not  merely  as 
criminal,  but  also  as  dastardly  deeds  of  violence. 

VIII 

Among  Cellini's  faults  I  do  not  reckon  either  base- 
ness or  lying.  He  was  not  a  rogue,  and  he  meant 
to  be  veracious.  This  contradicts  the  commonplace 
and  superficial  view  of  his  character  so  flatly  that  I 
must  support  my  opinion  at  some  length.  Of  course, 
I  shall  not  deny  that  a  fellow  endowed  with  such 
overweening  self-conceit,  when  he  comes  to  write 
about  himself,  will  set  down  much  which  cannot  be 
taken  entirely  on  trust.  His  personal  annals  will 
never  rank  as  historical  material  with  the  Venetian 
Despatches,  however  invaluable  the  student  of  man- 
ners may  find  them.  Men  of  his  stamp  are  certain 
to  exaggerate  their  own  merits,  and  to  pass  lightly 
over  things  not  favourable  to  the  ideal  they  present. 
But  this  is  very  different  from  lying ;  and  of  calcu- 
lated mendacity  Cellini  stands  almost  universally  ac- 
cused. I  believe  that  view  to  be  mistaken. 

So  far  as  I  have  learned  to  know  him,  so  far  as  I 
have  caught  his  accent  and  the  intonation  of  his  ut- 
terance, I  hold  him  for  a  most  veracious  man.  His 
veracity  was  not  of  the  sort  which  is  at  present  cur- 
rent. It  had  no  hypocrisy  or  simulation  in  it,  but  a 
large  dose  of  vainglory  with  respect  to  his  achieve- 

C   14  3 


INTRODUCTION 

ments,  and  a  trifle  of  suppression  with  respect  to  mat- 
ters which  he  thought  unworthy  of  his  fame.  Other- 
wise, he  is  quite  transparent  after  his  own  fashion 
— the  fashion,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
when  swaggering  and  lawlessness  were  in  vogue, 
which  must  be  distinguished  from  the  fashion  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  when  modesty  and  order  are 
respectable. 

IX 

What  I  have  called  the  accent  and  the  intonation  of 
Cellini  strikes  genuinely  upon  my  ear  in  the  open- 
ing sentences  of  a  letter  to  Benedetto  Varchi.  It  should 
be  premised  that  this  distinguished  historian,  poet, 
and  critic  was  an  intimate  friend  of  the  great  artist, 
who  sent  him  his  autobiography  in  MS.  to  read.  "It 
gives  me  pleasure  to  hear  from  your  worship/'  writes 
Cellini,  "that  you  like  the  simple  narrative  of  my 
life  in  its  present  rude  condition  better  than  if  it  were 
filed  and  retouched  by  the  hand  of  others,  in  which 
case  the  exa6l  accuracy  with  which  I  have  set  all 
things  down  might  not  be  so  apparent  as  it  is.  In 
truth,  I  have  been  careful  to  relate  nothing  whereof 
I  had  a  doubtful  memory,  and  have  confined  myself 
to  the  strictest  truth,  omitting  numbers  of  extraor- 
dinary incidents  out  of  which  another  writer  would 
have  made  great  capital."  In  a  second  letter  to  Varchi 
he  declares  himself  as  "  bad  at  dictating,  and  worse 
at  composing.."  He  clearly  thought  that  his  imperfect 
grammar  and  plebeian  style  were  more  than  com- 
pensated by  the  sincerity  and  veracity  of  his  narra- 
tion. 

c  15  n 


INTRODUCTION 


His  own  attitude  with  regard  to  truth  can  well  be 
studied  in  the  somewhat  comic  episode  of  the  Duch- 
ess of  Tuscany's  pearls.1  She  was  anxious  to  coax 
her  husband  into  buying  some  pearls  for  her,  and 
entreated  Cellini  to  tell  a  fib  or  two  in  their  favour 
for  her  sake.  "Now,"  says  Cellini,  "I  have  always 
been  the  devoted  friend  of  truth  and  the  enemy  of 
lies;  yet  I  undertook  the  office,  much  against  my 
will,  for  fear  of  losing  the  good  graces  of  so  great 
a  princess."  Accordingly,  he  went  with  "those  con- 
founded pearls"  to  the  Duke,  and  having  once  be- 
gun to  lie,  exaggerated  his  falsehoods  so  clumsily 
that  he  raised  suspicion.  The  Duke  at  last  begged 
him,  as  he  was  an  honest  man,  to  say  what  he  really 
thought.  This  appeal  upset  him:  "I  blushed  up  to 
the  eyes,  which  filled  with  tears;"  and  on  the  in- 
stant he  made  a  clean  breast  of  the  whole  matter, 
losing  thereby  the  favour  of  the  Duchess,  who  had 
been  shown  in  an  unpleasing  light  to  her  lord  and 
master.  The  minute  accounts  he  has  left  of  all  his 
negotiations  for  the  payment  of  the  Perseus  prove 
in  like  manner  that  the  one  thing  Cellini  could  not 
do  was  to  gain  his  ends  by  artifice  and  underhand 
transactions.  On  the  contrary,  he  blurted  out  the  bit- 
ter truth,  as  he  conceived  it,  in  hot  blood,  and  cla- 
moured with  egregious  presumption  for  what  his 
vanity  demanded.  Not  lying,  not  artfulness,  but  ar- 
rogance and  overweening  self-importance  are  the 
vices  of  his  character. 

1  Pita,  lib.  it.  ch.  ixxxiii. 


INTRODUCTION 

XI 

His  portrait  is  drawn  in  this  light  by  contemporaries. 
Vasari  describes  him  as  "in  all  his  doings  of  high 
spirit,  proud,  lively,  very  quick  to  a6l,  and  formid- 
ably vehement ;  a  person  who  knew  only  too  well 
how  to  speak  his  mind  to  princes/'  Bembo,  Caro, 
Martelli,  Varchi,  speak  of  him  always  in  terms  which 
would  be  quite  inapplicable  to  a  rogue  or  a  liar.  Dur- 
ing his  imprisonment  in  S.  Angelo,  Annibale  Caro, 
who  had  known  him  well  for  several  years,  wrote 
thus  to  his  friend  Luca  Martini :  "  I  have  still  some 
hope  for  Benvenuto,  unless  his  own  temper  should 
do  him  mischief,  for  that  is  certainly  extravagant. 
Since  he  was  in  prison,  he  has  never  been  able  to 
refrain  from  saying  things  in  his  odd  way,  which,  in 
my  opinion, makes  the  Prince  (Pier  Luigi  Farnese) 
uneasy  as  to  what  he  may  do  or  utter  in  the  future. 
These  follies,  far  more  than  any  crime  he  has  com- 
mitted in  the  past,  now  compromise  his  safety/'  That 
passage  strongly  corroborates  the  view  I  have  pre- 
sented of  Cellini's  character.  I  might  quote  another 
letter  written  by  Niccolo  Martelli  to  Benvenuto  in 
France.  It  begins  by  paying  a  tribute  to  his  "dis- 
tinguished talents  and  gracious  nature,"  saying  that 
any  favours  he  may  receive  at  the  French  court  will 
not  be  equal  to  his  merits, "  both  as  a  rare  goldsmith 
and  admirable  draughtsman,  and  also  as  a  man  of 
liberal  and  open  conversation  with  his  fellows,  free- 
handed not  only  to  artists  and  friends,  but  also  to 
all  who  seek  him  out;  esteeming  mighty  cardinals 
no  more  than  noble  spirits  in  a  humble  station,  which 

c  i? : 


INTRODUCTION 

is  really  worthy  of  a  nature  so  generous  as  yours." 
These  phrases  might  pass  for  merely  complimen- 
tary, did  they  not  so  exactly  confirm  Cellini's  own 
narrative.  They  give  us  good  reason  to  believe  that 
what  he  spoke  about  himself  was  the  truth. 

XII 

In  the  next  place  I  will  adduce  the  opinions  of  two 
Italian  critics  who  have  been  occupied  with  Cellini's 
autobiography.  Antonio  Cocchi,  its  first  editor  (Na- 
ples, 1730),  says  in  his  preface:  "I  will  not  conceal 
my  belief  that  there  are  some  things  scattered  through 
his  narrative  in  blame  of  contemporaries  to  which  we 
ought  to  lend  a  somewhat  doubting  ear.  It  is  not  that 
the  author  was  not  an  impassioned  friend  of  truth, 
but  he  may  have  accepted  vague  reports  or  yielded 
to  conjectures."  This  admission  is  too  cautious.  It  is 
certain  that  Cellini  wrote  his  Memoirs  in  no  critical 
spirit;  and  what  Cocchi  calls  "his  habit  of  excessive 
frankness,  his  harsh  manners,  readiness  to  take  af- 
front, and  implacable  hatreds,"  betrayed  him  into 
great  unfairness  when  dealing  with  people  whom  he 
disliked.  This  does  not,  however,  imply  of  necessity 
that  he  fabricated  falsehoods  against  the  folk  he  could 
not  tolerate.  Truth  is  ever  a  more  trenchant  weapon 
than  mendacity  in  most  cases.  When  Aretino,  that 
unscrupulous  gladiator  of  the  pen,  was  asked  how 
men  might  best  speak  evil  of  their  neighbours,  he 
replied :  "  By  telling  the  truth — by  telling  the  truth." 
And  Cellini  understood  with  keen  sagacity  this  force 
of  plain  unvarnished  statement.  I  take  it  that  the  most 
disagreeable  things  he  said  of  Paul  III.,  of  Luigi  Pulci, 

C   I*  1 


INTRODUCTION 

of  Baccio  Bandinelli,  and  of  Giorgio  Vasari  were  crude 
verities.  The  manners  of  the  period  and  his  method 
of  narration  justify  this  conclusion. 

Taking  a  wider  sweep  and  survey  of  this  subject, 
Baretti  sums  up  the  impression  left  upon  his  mind 
by  Cellini's  self-portraiture  thus:  "He  has  painted 
himself  as  brave  as  a  French  grenadier,  as  vindic- 
tive as  a  viper,  superstitious  to  the  last  degree,  full 
of  eccentricity  and  caprice;  a  pleasant  companion 
among  friends,  but  not  susceptible  of  affectionate 
attachments ;  rather  loose  in  sexual  relations,  a  bit  of 
a  traitor  without  being  aware  of  it ;  slightly  tainted 
with  spite  and  envy,  a  braggart  and  vain  without  sus- 
pecting himself  to  be  such ;  a  madcap  who  firmly  be- 
lieved he  was  wise,  circumspect,  and  prudent.  Fully 
persuaded  that  he  was  a  hero,  he  dashed  this  pic- 
ture of  himself  upon  the  canvas  without  a  thought  of 
composition  or  reflection,  just  as  his  fiery  and  rapid 
fancy  prompted.  We  derive  from  it  something  of  the 
same  pleasure  which  we  feel  in  contemplating  a 
terrible  wild  beast  who  cannot  get  near  enough  to 
hurt  us." 

XIII 

After  these  general  considerations  upon  the  limits 
within  which  Cellini's  veracity  may  be  trusted,  I  pass 
to  some  particulars  that  have  been  always  challenged 
in  his  statements. 

Upon  the  very  first  pages  of  the  book  we  are  met 
with  an  astounding  legend  relating  to  the  foundation 
and  the  name  of  Florence.  Having  shown  familiar- 
ity with  previous  speculations  on  the  subjedl,  he  re- 

C    19  ] 


INTRODUCTION 

jecls  all  other  hypotheses  in  favour  of  a  pure  myth, 
by  which  the  origin  of  the  city  is  referred  to  an  im- 
aginary ancestor  of  his  own,  Fiorino  da  Cellino,  a 
captain  in  the  army  of  Julius  Caesar.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  there  is  no  ground  whatever  for  the  le- 
gend ;  and  we  can  hardly  believe  that  Cellini  thought 
it  would  impose  on  any  one's  credulity.  That  it  flat- 
tered his  own  vanity  is  certain ;  and  I  suspect  from 
his  way  of  introducing  it  that  the  story  formed  part 
of  some  domestic  gossip  regarding  his  ancestry  which 
he  had  heard  in  boyhood.  Many  of  the  so-called  Nor- 
man pedigrees  of  our  aristocracy  used  to  begin  with 
fables  hardly  less  ridiculous.  To  call  this  one  of  Cel- 
lini's lies  would  be  as  absurd  as  to  deny  that  it  con- 
firms our  belief  in  his  childish  self-conceit  and  un- 
critical habit  of  mind. 

A  more  important  piece  of  boasting  is  usually  cast 
in  his  teeth.  He  tells  us  how  he  went,  upon  the  6th 
of  May  1527,  to  the  ramparts  of  Rome  at  the  mo- 
ment when  the  assault  of  the  Imperial  troops  was 
being  hotly  pressed,  and  how  he  slew  a  captain  with 
a  well-directed  musket-shot.  This  captain,  as  he  after- 
wards learned,  was  the  Constable  of  Bourbon.  Now 
there  is  nothing  to  prove  whether  he  did  or  did  not 
shoot  the  Constable.  He  only  mentions  the  fact  him- 
self on  hearsay,  and  when  he  enumerated  his  past 
services  before  the  judges  who  sent  him  to  prison  in 
1538  he  did  not  mention  this  feat.1  That  he  wounded 
the  Prince  of  Orange  by  the  discharge  of  a  culverin 
from  the  Castle  of  S.  Angelo  has  never  been  disputed. 
Indeed,  it  is  quite  certain  that  he  performed  more  than 

1  Vita,  lib.  i.  ch.  ciii. 


INTRODUCTION 

yeoman's  duty  as  a  gunner  all  through  the  period  of 
the  sack  of  Rome.  In  consequence  of  his  excellent  sol- 
diership, Orazio  Baglioni  offered  him  the  captaincy  of 
a  band  in  the  army  he  was  collecting  for  the  defence 
of  Florence.  Now  Bourbon  had  been  shot  dead  in  the 
assault  of  Rome  upon  that  foggy  morning,  and  Cel- 
lini had  certainly  discharged  his  arquebuse  from  the 
ramparts.  Always  posing  as  a  hero  in  his  own  eyes, 
he  was  gratified  to  obtain  some  colour  for  the  sup- 
position that  one  of  his  unerring  balls  had  done  the 
deed.  If  it  were  possible  to  put  his  thoughts  about 
this  event  into  a  syllogism,  it  would  run  as  follows: 
"Somebody  shot  Bourbon;  I  shot  somebody;  being 
what  I  am,  I  am  inclined  to  think  the  somebody  I 
shot  was  Bourbon/' 

Many  of  the  odd  things  related  by  Cellini  can  be 
classified  as  things  which  really  took  place,  like  the 
accident  of  the  scorpion  and  the  tremendous  hail- 
storm he  encountered  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ly- 
ons. Others  may  be  referred  to  common  superstition. 
I  will  choose  the  instance  of  the  salamander,  which 
has  often  been  brought  up  against  him.  Here  he  only 
informs  us  that  his  father  gave  him  a  good  box  on 
the  ears,  in  order  that  he  might  not  forget  the  occa- 
sion when  he  saw  something  in  a  wood-fire  which 
his  father  took  for  a  salamander. 

Not  a  few  of  the  most  striking  of  his  presumed  lies 
turn  out,  upon  inspection,  like  those  of  Herodotus, 
to  be  simply  the  best  evidence  of  his  veracity.  That  is 
to  say,  when  we  examine  them  we  find  that  he  had 
been  recording  a<5lual  phenomena  with  more  than 
usual  powers  of  observation,  but  without  the  power 

C    2>    3 


INTRODUCTION 

of  scientifically  accounting  for  them.  Being  vividly 
conscious  of  the  fact  as  he  observed  it,  and  at  the 
same  time  subject  to  a  wrong  method  of  interpre- 
tation, he  unconsciously  proved  his  veracity  by  ac- 
curately describing  what  he  saw,  and  then  referring 
it  to  such  causes  as  were  current  at  his  epoch.  I  will 
sele6l  two  examples  bearing  on  this  point ;  both  shall 
be  recorded  in  his  own  words. 

The  first  relates  to  a  portent  in  the  heavens,  which 
he  regarded  as  a  sign  sent  for  some  fateful  warning. 
After  relating  how  he  and  his  friend  Felice  had  been 
shooting  all  day  on  the  Roman  Campagna,  he  pro- 
ceeds as  follows:1  "We  mounted  and  rode  rap- 
idly towards  Rome;  and  when  we  reached  a  certain 
gently  rising  ground — night  then  had  fallen — look- 
ing in  the  direction  of  Florence,  both  with  one  breath 
exclaimed  in  the  utmost  astonishment, '  Oh,  God  of 
heaven !  what  is  that  great  thing  one  sees  there  over 
Florence?'  It  resembled  a  huge  beam  of  fire,  which 
sparkled  and  gave  out  extraordinary  lustre.  I  said  to 
Felice,' Assuredly  we  shall  hear  to-morrow  that  some- 
thing of  vast  importance  has  happened  in  Florence/ ' 
In  effecl:,  they  did  hear  that  Alessandro  de'  Medici 
had  been  murdered  by  his  cousin  Lorenzino.  Yet, 
meanwhile,  Cellini  has  left  a  striking,  though  brief, 
picture  of  the  aurora  borealis  which  he  happened  to 
have  noticed. 

The  second  of  these  examples  is  more  curious  and 
far  more  confirmatory  of  his  truth.  After  those  half- 
delirious  experiences  in  the  dungeon  of  S.  Angelo, 
when  he  saw  visions  and  thought  that  angels  mi- 

1  Vita,  lib.  i.  ch.  Ixxxix. 

L    22    ] 


INTRODUCTION 

nistered  to  his  sick  body,  he  fancied  himself  un- 
der God's  special  guidance.  As  a  sign  of  this  pecu- 
liar grace,  he  relates  the  following  circumstance:1 
"Since  that  time  till  now  an  aureole  of  glory  (mar- 
vellous to  relate)  has  rested  on  my  head.  This  is 
visible  to  every  sort  of  men  to  whom  I  have  chosen 
to  point  it  out;  but  these  have  been  very  few.  This 
halo  can  be  observed  above  my  shadow  in  the  morn- 
ing, from  the  rising  of  the  sun  for  about  two  hours, 
and  far  better  when  the  grass  is  drenched  with  dew. 
It  is  also  visible  at  evening  about  sunset.  I  became 
aware  of  it  in  France,  at  Paris ;  for  the  air  in  those 
countries  is  so  much  freer  from  mist  that  one  can 
see  it  there  far  better  manifested  than  in  Italy,  mists 
being  far  more  frequent  among  us.  However,  I  am 
always  able  to  see  it,  and  to  show  it  to  others,  but 
not  so  well  as  in  the  country  I  have  mentioned." 
Critics  have  taken  for  granted  that  this  is  a  mere 
piece  of  audacious  mendacity  meant  to  glorify  him- 
self, whereas  it  is  really  the  record  of  a  very  accu- 
rate but  misinterpreted  observation.  Any  one  who 
walks  abroad  in  grassy  places  when  the  light  is  low, 
as  at  sunrise  or  at  sunset,  can  satisfy  himself  that 
his  shadow  cast  on  dewy  sward  is  surrounded  with 
a  rim  of  glory  like  a  lunar  rainbow.  But  if  he  goes 
with  companions,  he  will  not  see  their  shadows  en- 
circled with  the  same  light,  because  his  own  body 
is  the  point  which  focusses  the  diffused  rays.2  He, 

1  Vita,  lib.  i.  ch.  cxxviii. 

*  On  the  appearance  of  this  passage  in  the  Fortnightly  Review  for  January  1887, 
/  received  a  communication  from  H.  D.  Pearsall,  Esq.,  of  3  Cursitor  Street,  ex- 
pressing some  interest  in  my  account  of  Cellini's  aureole.  He  says  •.  "  /  observed  the 
phenomenon  some  years  ago  in  India,  and  the  attendant  circumstances  were  such  as 


therefore,  might  well  imagine  that  the  aureole  is 
given  to  himself  alone;  and,  in  order  to  exhibit  it, 
he  must  make  his  comrade  take  a  place  behind  him, 
where  the  halo  becomes  at  once  visible  to  both.  Long 
before  I  attended  to  the  above  passage  in  Cellini,  I 
noticed  this  phenomenon,  and  pointed  it  out  to  friends, 
finding  that  some  of  them  were  too  deficient  in  pow- 
ers of  observation  to  perceive  it,  while  others  at  once 
recognised  the  singular  and  beautiful  efFecl:.  What 
makes  the  example  interesting  for  the  light  it  casts 
on  Cellini's  habit  of  mind  is  that  he  starts  by  saying 
the  aureole  surrounds  his  head,  and  then  very  in- 
genuously proceeds  to  tell  us  that  it  only  surrounds 
the  shadow  of  his  head  at  certain  times  and  in  cer- 
tain places.  Those  times  and  places  are  just  what  the 
experience  of  one  who  has  observed  the  same  phe- 
nomena would  lead  him  to  expe6l.  Again,  he  sets 


you  mention.  It  is  curious,  as  illustrating  the  want  of  observation  of  most  people,  that 
I  have  never  yet  met  with  any  one  but  yourself  who  had  observed  it"  In  expla- 
nation of  the  aureole  he  adds :  "  It  appeared  to  me  that  the  cause  was  simply  the 
reflection  of  the  direfl  rays  of  the  sun  from  the  wet  surface  of  the  blades  of  grass. 
The  reason  why  a  spectator  at  one  side  cannot  see  it  would,  therefore,  not  be  that 
the  illuminated  person  s  body  focus sed  the  diffused  rays,  but  simply  the  direfl  conse- 
quence of  the  law  of  reflection  of  light  (angle  of  incidence  =  angle  of  refraction),  so 
that  the  reflected  rays  would  reach  the  eye  of  the  objefl,  but  not  that  of  any  person 
at  a  little  distance  to  one  side.  The  aureole  never  extended  lower  than  my  shoulder, 
evidently  for  the  same  reason."  This  explanation  is  so  obviously  superior  to  that  sug- 
gested by  my  own  vague  and  unscientific  phrase  in  the  text,  that  I  am  grateful  for 
the  permission  to  report  it  in  Mr.  Pearsall"s  own  words.  It  is  worth  adding,  per- 
haps, that  when  the  objefl  finds  himself  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  reflect- 
ing surface  of  wet  grass,  as  w hen,  for  instance,  he  is  driving  in  a  carriage  above  a 
grassy  meadow,  the  aureole  will  extend  somewhat  lower  than  his  shoulder.  This 
I  have  observed. 

[Since  this  note  was  first  published,  a  friend  has  pointed  out  to  me  a  passage  in 
Thoreaus  Walden,  at  the  beginning  of  the  article  named  Baber  Farm,  which  shows 
that  Thoreau  had  observed  the  phenomenon  I  have  described,  and,  like  me,  had  con- 
nefied  his  observation  with  Cellini's  Memoirs.  This  confirmatory  evidence  gives  me 
pleasure,  and  I  am  glad  to  report  it. — J.  A.  £.] 

[    24    ] 


INTRODUCTION 

up  a  false  theory  to  explain  why  he  could  see  it  bet- 
ter in  France  than  in  Italy.  It  is  not  that  there  is  more 
mist  in  the  latter  than  the  former  country,  but  that 
low-lying  humidity  of  atmosphere  and  heavy  dews 
on  deep  grass  are  favourable  to  the  production  of 
the  appearance,  and  these  conditions  may  be  met 
with  more  frequently  in  a  country  like  France  than 
in  the  provinces  of  Middle  Italy.  It  was  upon  the 
Alpine  meadows,  where  I  am  now  writing,  at  the 
season  of  early  autumn  frosts,  that  I  first  noticed  it; 
and  I  can  predict  with  some  confidence  when  it  is 
pretty  certain  to  be  reproduced.  In  my  opinion,  the 
very  hesitancies  of  Cellini  in  this  test-passage  are 
undesigned  corroborations  of  his  general  veracity. 
A  man  who  deliberately  invents  something  to  glorify 
himself  and  mystify  the  world  does  not  go  about  his 
work  in  this  fashion.  He  does  not  describe  a  natural 
phenomenon  so  exactly  that  all  the  limiting  condi- 
tions, which  he  regarded  as  inexplicable  imperfec- 
tions in  the  grace  conferred  upon  him,  shall  confirm 
the  truth  of  his  observation. 

A  similar  line  of  reasoning  might  be  adopted  with 
regard  to  the  extraordinary  night-scene  in  the  Col- 
iseum. Cellini  went  thither,  firmly  believing  in  ghosts 
and  fiends,  in  order  to  raise  devils,  with  a  necroman- 
cer. A  bonfire  was  lighted  and  drugs  were  cast  upon 
the  coals,  which  rolled  forth  volumes  of  murky  smoke. 
In  the  smoke  legions  of  demons  appeared.  Imagina- 
tion and  the  awe-inspiring  influences  of  the  place, 
even  if  we  eliminate  a  possible  magic-lantern  among 
the  conjuror's  appurtenances,  are  enough  to  account 
for  what  Cellini  saw.  He  was  credulous,  he  was  super- 


INTRODUCTION 

stitious ;  he  was  readily  exalted  to  the  fever-point  of 
delirium  (as  in  the  case  of  Charon,  who  obsessed 
him  during  his  Roman  illness,  the  visions  of  S.  An- 
gelo  when  his  leg  was  broken,  and  the  apparition  of 
the  gravedigger  during  his  short  fever  on  the  night 
of  casting  Perseus);  but  there  is  nothing  in  his  con- 
fidences to  make  us  suppose  that  the  phantasmagoria 
of  the  Coliseum  was  a  deliberate  invention. 

XIV 

The  most  convincing  proofs  of  Cellini's  trustworthi- 
ness are  not,  however,  to  be  sought  in  these  minor 
details.  I  find  them  far  stronger  and  far  more  abun- 
dant in  the  vast  picSlure-gallery  of  historical  portraits 
which  he  has  painted.  Parini,  while  tracing  the  sa- 
lient qualities  of  his  autobiography,  remarked:  "He 
is  peculiarly  admirable  in  depi6ling  to  the  life  by  a 
few  salient  touches  the  characters,  passions,  personal 
peculiarities,  movements,  and  habits  of  the  people 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact." 

Only  one  who  has  made  himself  for  long  years 
familiar  with  the  history  of  Cellini's  period  can  ap- 
preciate the  extraordinary  vividness  and  truth  of  Cel- 
lini's delineation.  Without  attempting  to  do  more  than 
record  his  recollection  of  what  happened  to  himself 
in  commerce  with  men  of  all  sorts,  he  has  drama- 
tised the  great  folk  of  histories,  chronicles,  and  dip- 
lomatic despatches  exactly  as  our  best  authorities  in 
their  more  colourless  and  cautious  style  present  them 
to  our  fancy.  He  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  the  al- 
cove and  the  ante-chamber ;  and  without  abusing  these 
in  the  spirit  of  a  Voltaire  or  a  valet,  he  has  greatly 

t  26] 


BUST    OF    COSIMO    DE    MEDICI 

(  FLORENCE:  i 


INTRODUCTION 

added  to  our  conception  of  Clement  VII.,  Paul  III., 
Francis  I.,  and  Cosimo  de'  Medici,  Grand  Duke  of 
Tuscany.  Clement  driven  to  his  wits'  end  for  cash 
during  the  sack  of  Rome ;  Paul  granting  favours  to 
a  cardinal  at  the  end  of  a  copious  repast,  when  wine 
was  in  his  head ;  Francis  interrupting  the  goldsmiths 
in  their  workshop  at  the  Petit  Nesle;  Cosimo  in- 
dulging in  horse-play  with  his  buffoon  Bernardone 
— these  detach  themselves,  as  living  personages, 
against  the  grey  historic  background.  Yet  the  same 
great  people,  on  more  ceremonious  occasions,  or  in 
the  common  transactions  of  life,  talk,  move,  and  a6l 
precisely  as  we  learn  to  know  them  from  the  most 
approved  documentary  sources.  Take,  for  example, 
the  singular  interview  between  Paul  III.  and  the 
Marquis  del  Vasto,  which  Cellini  interrupted,  and 
when  he  was  used  by  the  former  to  exhaust  the 
patience  of  the  Spanish  envoy.1  Our  authorities  tell 
us  much  about  the  fox-like  shifty  nature  of  the  Pope ; 
and  we  know  that,  precisely  at  this  moment,  he  was 
eager  to  preserve  his  own  neutrality  between  the 
courts  of  France  and  Spain.  Cellini,  thinking  only  of 
his  personal  affairs,  withdraws  the  curtain  from  a 
scene  which  we  feel  at  once  to  be  the  very  truth  and 
inner  life  of  history. 

It  was  not  only  in  dealing  with  the  greatest  aclors 
on  the  world's  stage  that  Cellini  showed  this  keen 
fidelity  to  fa<5l.  His  portraits  of  the  bestial  Pier  Luigi 
Farnese,  of  the  subtle  and  bizarre  Lorenzino  de' 
Medici,  of  the  Ferrarese  minister  Giliolo,  of  the 
Florentine  majordomo  Ricci,  of  the  proud  Comte  de 

1  Vita,  lib,  i.  ch.  xcii. 

C  27  H 


INTRODUCTION 

St.  Paul,  correspond  exaclly  to  what  we  learn  other- 
wise about  them,  adding  slight  significant  touches 
from  private  information.  Madame  D'Etampes  and 
the  Duchess  Eleanora  of  Tuscany  move  across  his 
pages  as  they  lived,  the  one  with  the  vivacity  of  a 
king's  insolent  mistress,  the  other  with  the  some- 
what sickly  and  yet  kindly  grandeur  of  the  Span- 
ish consort  to  an  astute  Italian  prince.  Lesser  folk, 
with  whom  we  are  equally  acquainted  through  their 
writings  or  biographical  notices,  appear  in  crowds 
upon  a  lower  plane.  Bembo,  in  his  dignified  retreat 
at  Padua ;  Torrigianp,  swaggering  about  the  Flor- 
entine workshops;  Giulio  Romano,  leading  the  de- 
bauched society  of  Roman  artists;  Maitre  Roux,  in 
his  Parisian  magnificence;  Alamanni,  the  humane 
and  gentle  nobleman  of  letters ;  Sansovino,  expand- 
ing at  ease  in  Venetian  comfort;  old  Michel  Angelo, 
with  his  man  Urbino,  in  their  simple  Roman  dwell- 
ing; Bandinelli,  blustering  before  the  Duke  of  Flor- 
ence in  a  wordy  duel  with  Cellini,  which  Vasari  also 
has  reported — all  these,  and  how  many  more  be- 
sides, are  portrayed  with  an  evident  reality,  which 
corresponds  in  each  particular  to  the  man  as  he  is 
otherwise  revealed  to  us  by  independent  evidence. 
Yet  Cellini  had  no  intention  of  describing  such  folk 
for  our  benefit.  As  they  happened  to  cross  his  life,  so 
he  sketched  them  with  sharp,  pungent  quill-strokes, 
always  thinking  more  about  his  own  affairs  than  their 
personality.  Nothing  inspires  a  firmer  confidence  in 
his  accuracy  as  an  observer  and  his  veracity  as  a 
narrator  than  the  undesigned  corroboration  given 
to  his  portraits  by  masses  of  external  and  less  vivid 
testimony.  C  28  3 


INTRODUCTION  . 

This  forces  me  to  accept  as  genuine  many  of 
those  powerful  and  humorous  descriptions  of  char- 
acter which  we  cannot  check .  How  true  to  life  is  the 
history  of  young  Luigi  Pulci,  who  came  to  grief  in 
Rome,  after  wasting  exceptional  talents  in  disgrace- 
ful self-indulgence!  That  episode  reads  like  apiece 
justificative  in  illustration  of  Aretino's  Dialogo  delle 
Corti.  The  story  too  of  the  mad  Castellan  of  S.  An- 
gelo,  who  thought  he  was  a  bat,  deserves  like  cre- 
dence. The  ruffianly  postmaster  at  Siena,  shot  dead 
by  Cellini  in  a  quarrel ;  the  Milanese  simpleton  who 
entreated  the  surgeon,  while  sewing  up  a  wound  in 
his  mouth,  not  to  close  the  whole  orifice  out  of  spite ; 
the  incomparable  dilettante  at  Ferrara,  Alfonso  de' 
Trotti,  who  made  such  a  fool  of  himself  about  some 
old  models  from  Cellini's  vases ;  Tribolo,  the  quak- 
ing coward;  Busbacca,  the  lying  courier;  Cellini's 
father,  with  his  fixed  idea  about  Benvenuto's  flute- 
playing;  Ascanio  and  his  sweetheart  hidden  in  the 
head  of  the  great  statue  of  Mars  at  Paris — hundreds 
of  such  rapidly  traced  silhouettes,  with  all  the  force 
of  life  and  all  the  comicality  of  satiric  genius,  cross 
these  pages  and  enliven  them  at  every  turn.  We  have 
faith  in  their  veracity,  partly  because  they  correspond 
to  human  nature  in  the  times  which  Cellini  knew,  and 
partly  because  his  descriptions  of  character,  when 
verified  by  external  evidence,  are  found  so  faithful. 

xv 

The  trustworthiness  of  Cellini's  Memoirs  might  be 
submitted  to  yet  another  test.  Numerous  details,  as, 
for  instance,  the  episode  of  his  brother's  death  and 


INTRODUCTION 

what  he  says  about  Foiano's  starvation  in  S.  Angelo, 
are  supported  by  Varchi's  History  of  Florence.  His 
own  private  memoranda  and  official  petitions  to  the 
Duke  of  Florence  confirm  the  main  records  of  his 
life  in  that  city.  The  French  letters  of  naturalisation 
and  the  deed  conferring  on  him  the  lordship  of  Le 
Petit  Nesle  are  in  existence.  Signor  Bertolotti's  and 
the  Marchese  Campori's  researches  have  established 
the  accuracy  of  his  narrative  regarding  his  life  in 
Rome  and  his  relations  to  the  Cardinal  of  Ferrara.1 
But  it  would  occupy  too  much  space  to  pursue  this 
line  of  investigation  with  the  scrupulous  thorough- 
ness, without  which  such  arguments  are  unconvin- 
cing. Enough  has  perhaps  been  said  in  this  place  up- 
on the  topic  of  the  man's  veracity.  What  I  have  at- 
tempted to  demonstrate  is,  that  he  did  not  mean  to 
lie,  and  that  we  possess  strong  confirmatory  testi- 
mony to  the  truth  of  his  statements  and  the  accuracy 
of  his  observation.  This  does  not  imply  that  a  man 
of  his  violent  passions  and  egregious  vanity  is  always 
to  be  trusted,  either  when  he  praises  his  own  per- 
formance or  depreciates  his  sworn  foes. 

XVI 

A  different  class  of  problems  have  to  be  faced  when 
we  seek  to  estimate  how  far  Cellini  can  be  justly 
called  either  a  rogue  or  a  villain.  I  have  admitted 
in  my  general  review  of  his  character  that  he  was 
capable  of  suppressing  portions  of  the  truth  respect- 
ing matters  which  involved  his  own  ideal  of  a  manly 

1  Benvenuto  Cellini  a  Roma,  &c.  Arch.  Star,  di  Roma,  1875.  Notizie  inedite  delle 
relazioni  tra  il  Cardinale  Ipfr.  d'Este  e  B.  C.,  Modena,  1862. 

c  so : 


INTRODUCTION 

reputation ;  although  I  am  inclined  to  trust  his  nar- 
rative on  all  points  openly  related. 

Now  there  are  two  important  passages  in  his  life 
which  might  be  challenged  as  imperfectly  explained 
by  him,  and  which  are  therefore  ex  hypothesi  sus- 
picious. The  first  of  these  is  the  long  imprisonment 
in  S.  Angelo  at  Rome ;  the  second  is  his  final  depar- 
ture from  France. 

The  account  which  Cellini  gives  of  the  former 
episode  is  that  he  had  been  calumniated  to  Pope 
Paul  III.,  and  had  furthermore  incurred  the  hatred 
of  Pier  Luigi  Farnese.1  At  the  same  time  he  states 
that  his  first  examination  before  judges  turned  upon 
a  charge  of  having  stolen  crown  jewels  amounting 
to  eighty  thousand  ducats,  while  employed  to  melt 
their  settings  down  for  Clement  VII.2  It  seems  that 
a  Perugian  workman  in  Cellini's  employ  informed 
against  him ;  and  Pier  Luigi  obtained  from  his  Papal 
father  a  grant  of  this  value  when  it  should  be  recov- 
ered. Cellini  successfully  disposed  of  the  accusation 
by  appealing  to  the  books  of  the  Apostolic  Camera, 
upon  which  all  the  articles  belonging  to  the  regalia 
were  duly  inscribed.  He  also  asked  what  he  could 
have  done  with  so  large  a  sum  as  eighty  thousand 
ducats.3  Upon  this  point  it  is  worth  noticing  that 
when  Cellini  made  his  nuncupatory  will  some  months 
previous  to  this  imprisonment,  he  possessed  nothing 
at  all  approaching  to  the  amount  of  eighty  thousand 
ducats.4  Also,  he  relates  how  he  confessed,  during 
the  lifetime  of  Pope  Clement,  to  having  kept  back 

1  Lib.  i.  chaps.  lxx<v.t  xcii'.  a  Ibid.,  chap.  ci. 

3  Ibid.,  chap.  ciii.  *  Ibid.,  chap.  Ixxxiv. 

c  31 : 


INTRODUCTION 

a  small  quantity  of  gold-filings  in  the  Castle  of 
S.  Angelo,  for  which  a6l  he  received  plenary  Papal 
absolution.1  It  seems  therefore  certain  that  Cellini 
cleared  himself  before  the  judges  of  this  charge  of 
peculation ;  and  nothing  more  was  subsequently  said 
about  it. 

Yet  there  remains  some  difficulty  in  understand- 
ing why  he  was  kept  so  long  in  prison  after  the 
voracious  Pier  Luigi  found  that  no  articles  of  value 
could  be  extracted  from  him.  Are  we  to  believe  that 
Paul  III. remained  obdurate  in  his  resentment  merely 
because  some  courtiers  told  him  that  Cellini  had 
been  laughing  at  the  Pope  behind  his  back  ?  That 
is  by  no  means  either  impossible  or  improbable, 
knowing  as  we  do  what  a6ls  of  tyranny  a  Pope  was 
capable  of  perpetrating.  Varchi,  for  example,  writ- 
ing his  History  of  Florence  under  Medicean  influ- 
ence for  a  Medicean  Grand  Duke,  relates  how  the 
last  great  Medicean  Pope,  Clement  VII.,  caused  a 
political  antagonist,  Fra  Foiano,  to  be  starved  in  the 
Castle  of  S.  Angelo  by  daily  reducing  his  rations 
till  the  wretch  expired  of  vermin  and  famine.  Now 
Alessandro  Farnese,  Pope  Paul  III.,  was  in  some 
ways  worse  and  more  dangerous  than  any  of  those 
previous  Pontiffs.  He  owed  his  first  advancement  to 
his  sister's  shame;  for  Giulia  la  Beila  had  been  the 
mistress  of  Pope  Alexander  VI.  During  his  early 
manhood  he  underwent  imprisonment  in  the  Castle 
of  S.  Angelo  for  forgery  while  holding  public  offices 
of  trust.  He  was,  in  fa<5l,  a  survivor  from  the  most 
worldly  and  most  lawless  days  of  the  Roman  Church. 

*  Lib.  i.  chap,  yfliii. 

C    32    ]] 


INTRODUCTION 

But  when  he  obtained  the  tiara  public  opinion  had 
begun  to  undergo  a  change.  Paul  III.  could  not  play 
the  part  of  a  Delia  Rovere  or  Borgia  openly  before 
the  world.  His  hands,  in  the  new  age  dawning  over 
Europe,  were  tied;  the  natural  movements  of  his 
youthful  years  were  checked ;  the  quality  he  chiefly 
cultivated  was  craft.  That  did  not,  however,  prevent 
him  from  being  stiff-necked  and  tyrannical  when  he 
could  indulge  his  humour.  His  bastard,  Pier  Luigi, 
Duke  of  Parma,  who  was  eventually  murdered  by 
his  outraged  subjects,  is  acknowledged  to  have  been 
a  low  rascal  of  infamous  habits.  A  pair  of  such  peo- 
ple were  quite  capable  of  keeping  Cellini  in  prison 
out  of  spite  and  obstinacy.  Moreover,  we  have  al- 
ready learned  from  Caro's  correspondence  that  well- 
informed  persons  in  Rome  ascribed  his  prolonged 
detention  to  the  incorrigible  violence  of  his 'language 
rather  than  to  any  past  offences. 

With  regard  to  Cellini's  final  removal  from  France, 
a  good  deal  might  be  said.  He  informs  us  that  do- 
mestic circumstances  obliged  him  to  revisit  his  na- 
tive town  of  Florence.  His  only  sister  was  married 
to  an  aged  husband  with  failing  health,  who  earned 
nothing  for  the  family.  This  couple  had  six  daugh- 
ters, and  Cellini  not  unreasonably  feared  that  the 
girls  might  fall  into  bad  ways  unless  they  were  pro- 
vided for.1  With  characteristic  recklessness  he  left 
the  land  of  his  adoption  before  he  had  properly 
squared  accounts  with  King  Francis.  On  the  journey 
from  Paris  to  Lyons  something  happened  which 
might  raise  suspicion.  Messengers  followed  our  art- 

1  Lib.  ii.  chap.  I. 


INTRODUCTION 

1st,  and  obliged  him  to  give  up  three  pieces  of  silver 
plate  and  some  bullion  on  the  King's  account.  Cellini 
asserts  that  he  intended  to  deposit  these  valuables 
at  Lyons  in  an  abbey  of  his  old  patron  the  Cardi- 
nal of  Ferrara,  before  he  left  the  country.  He  ar- 
gues with  much  show  of  reason  that  it  would  have 
been  impossible  to  convey  a  whole  mule-load  of 
precious  metal  out  of  France  under  the  then  stri6l 
laws  regarding  exportation.  There  were  further  cir- 
cumstances connected  with  the  King's  health  at  that 
period  which  made  him  unwilling  to  abandon  so 
much  property  in  Paris  under  the  charge  of  two 
Italian  workmen.  Francis,  in  the  year  1545,  was 
already  sinking  into  premature  decrepitude,  and  his 
life  could  not  be  reckoned  on.  Cellini's  story  is 
therefore  plausible  and  intelligible  enough.  We 
know,  besides,  that  he  subsequently  lost  all  the 
effects  which  he  left  behind  at  Paris;  nor  have  we 
any  reason  to  doubt  that  Francis  was  satisfied  with 
the  lengthy  statement  which  he  transmitted  from 
Florence.1  Yet  the  narrative  of  his  departure  has 
exposed  him  to  a  charge  of  peculation  or  of  seriously 
involved  accounts  in  his  transactions  with  the  King. 
I  am  not  aware  that  sinister  light  has  been  thrown 
upon  this  matter  from  French  archives.  On  the  con- 
trary, we  know  that  Francis,  who  sincerely  liked 
him,  wanted  Cellini  to  return.  What  is  more,  we 
possess  a  letter  written  by  Duke  Cosimo  to  Caterina 
de'  Medici  in  1547,  the  year  of  her  husband's  acces- 
sion to  the  French  throne,  recommending  Benve- 
nuto  to  his  royal  cousin,  and  expressly  setting  forth 

1  See  Plan,  Betrvenuto  Cellini,  p.  67.     ' 

C   34  D 


INTRODUCTION 

the  reasons  why  the  artist  had  left  Paris.1  "  He  came 
back  to  this  country,"  says  the  Grand  Duke,  "  in 
order  that  his  nieces  might  benefit  by  his  talents  and 
assistance ;  and  I  am  no  less  pleased  by  this  mark  of 
dutiful  regard  for  his  family  than  by  the  beauty  of 
his  works."  For  some  reason  or  another,  Cellini 
does  not  appear  to  have  used  this  letter.  Still,  twelve 
years  afterwards,  the  Queen  of  France  again  re- 
quired his  services.  Henri  II.  died  in  1559,  and  in 
1562  his  widow  had  not  yet  erecled  her  husband's 
monument.  At  the  latter  date  her  envoy  to  Flo- 
rence, Baccio  del  Bene,  invited  Cellini  to  complete 
the  work,  which  had  been  begun  by  Daniele  da 
Volterra.2  Whether  he  did  not  care  to  go,  being  old 
and  having  recently  married,  or  whether,  as  he  says, 
the  Duke  refused  him  leave,  cannot  be  decided.  It 
is  only  certain  that  he  never  returned  to  France. 

These  two  episodes  are,  it  seems  to  me,  the  two 
most  dubious  passages  in  Cellini's  life — those,!  mean, 
upon  which  a  charge  of  roguery  might  most  plau- 
sibly be  founded.  In  the  matter  of  the  Pope's  jewels 
he  stands  acquitted ;  but  scrupulous  critics  may  still 
perhaps  trace  a  mystery  in  the  circumstances  which 
attended  his  quitting  the  service  of  King  Francis. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  here  to  refer  to  a  sentence 
passed  on  him  in  1 548  for  selling  garnets  under  the 
pretence  that  they  were  rubies.3  The  fa6ls  are  not 
sufficiently  established. 


1  Bianchiyp.  588.  *  Lib,  it.  chap,  cxii. 

3  See  Mabellini,  'Delle  Rime  di  B.  C.,p.  104,  and  Montazio,  I  prigionieri  del  Mas- 

tio  di  Volterra,  />.  200,  note . 

C  35   ] 


INTRODUCTION 

XVII 

After  roguery  we  come  now  to  the  question  of  vil- 
lainy and  violence.  When  Benvenuto  was  first  cap- 
tured by  the  Roman  authorities,  they  tried,  as  I  have 
already  shown,  to  convicl:  him  on  a  charge  of  steal- 
ing court  jewels.  In  the  course  of  his  interrogation, 
"that  catchpoll  of  a  governor"  said  to  him:  "And 
yet  you  have  murdered  several  men  I"1  This  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  prisoner's  accusation ;  but  it 
had,  perhaps,  something  to  do  with  the  attitude  of 
his  judges;  and  so,  I  imagine,  has  it  a  great  deal  to 
do  with  the  opinion  people  of  the  present  day  will 
form  of  him.  It  is  certain  that  Cellini  himself  was 
not  wholly  indifferent  to  his  homicides ;  for  when  he 
thought  his  throat  was  going  to  be  cut  in  Torre  di 
Nona,  the  memory  of  them  weighed  upon  his  con- 
science.2 At  that  moment  he  had  assassinated  two 
men  in  Rome  upon  the  open  streets,  namely,  the 
constable  who  caused  his  brother's  death,  and  a 
goldsmith  called  Pompeo.  He  had  thrice  risked  the 
commission  of  wholesale  slaughter, once  in  Florence, 
once  in  Rome,  and  thirdly  at  Ferrara;  but  these 
quarrels  resulted  in  no  bloodshed.  It  does  not  appear 
that  he  had  killed  anybody  else,  although  he  se- 
verely wounded  a  man  named  Ser  Benedetto  in  a 
sudden  fit  of  rage.3 

So  far,  then,  according  to  his  own  admission,  Cel- 
lini had  only  two  clear  murders  on  his  mind  in 
1538.  Possibly  he  forgot  a  few  of  less  importance, 
for  his  memory  was  not  always  trustworthy  about 

1  Lib.  i.  chap.  ciii.  *  Ibid.,  chap.  cx*u.  3  Ibid.,  chap.  hcvi. 

C   36  1 


INTRODUCTION 

trifles .?  For  instance,  when  he  baptized  an  illegiti- 
mate daughter  at  Paris  in  1 543, he  calmly  remarked: 
"This  was  the  first  child  I  ever  had,  so  far  as  I 
remember/'1  Afterwards,  he  made  up  to  some  ex- 
tent for  any  previous  omissions ;  for  -he  informs  us 
with  circumstantial  details  how  he  killed  the  post- 
master at  Siena,  and  how  he  disabled  two  of  his 
enemies  at  Paris,  carving  them  about  the  legs  and 
arms  with  his  sword,  in  order  to  avoid  a  homicide 
and  display  his  skill  at  fence/ 

Bloodshed,  accordingly,  played  a  prominent  part 
in  Benvenuto's  life  experiences;  and  those  who  are 
best  acquainted  with  him  know  that  it  was  hardly 
his  fault  if  this  feature  is  not  more  prominent  in 
their  records.  Paolo  Micceri  and  Baccio  Bandinelli, 
for  example,  owed  their  narrow  escape  from  assas- 
sination less  to  his  forbearance  than  to  their  own 
want  of  pluck.3  At  this  point,  then,  it  is  necessary 
to  advance  some  arguments  in  his  defence.  In  the 
first  place,  it  will  be  noticed  that  he  speaks  with 
pride  and  imperturbability  about  these  murderous 
exploits.  Whatever  ceremony  of  phrase  he  used  in 
describing  his  departure  from  Paris,  there  is  no- 
thing of  this  sort  when  he  comes  to  relate  the  details 
of  a  homicide.  All  is  candid  and  above  board  upon 
these  occasions,  except  when  he  exhibits  a  slight 
sense  of  shame  at  being  obliged  to  waylay  his  bro- 
ther's slayer.4  The  causes  of  this  good  conscience  are 
not  far  to  seek.  I  have  already  stated  that  murder 
at  that  epoch  passed  for  a  merely  venial  error.  It 

1  Lib.  ii.  chap.  xxx<vii.  *  Ibid.,  chaps.  i<v.,  xx<viii. 

3  Ibid.,  chaps,  xxxiii.,  lx<ui.  *  Lib.  i.  chap.  It. 

c  37 : 


INTRODUCTION 

was  then  esteemed  the  duty  of  a  vigorous  human 
being  to  assert  his  honour  by  taking  the  lives  of 
men  who  had  insulted  or  wronged  him  in  his  own 
judgment,  or  the  lives  of  sisters  and  wives  who  had 
disgraced  his  family.  The  universal  records  of  the 
age  support  this  statement ;  and  long  after  Cellini's 
death  theological  casuists  defended  homicide  on 
both  these  counts,  arguing  that  honour  was  a  man's 
life,  and  that  an  assault  upon  his  honour  was  equiv- 
alent to  an  assault  with  violence  upon  his  person. 
They  justified  murder  when  the  member  of  a  reli- 
gious order  vindicated  its  reputation.  They  justified 
infanticide  when  a  girl  sought  to  defend  her  good 
repute.  The  casuists  did  but  formulate  social  cus- 
toms too  prevalent  to  be  suppressed,  with  the  pious 
view  of  keeping  men  whom  we  call  criminals  within 
the  pale  of  Holy  Church.  Small  blame  was  it  then 
to  Cellini  if  he  practised  what  the  doctors  preached ! 
His  acts  of  violence  fell  under  what  were  then  con- 
sidered honourable  categories.  He  speaks  with  sat- 
isfaction about  them,  because  he  plumed  himself  on 
their  commission,  and  reckoned  upon  gaining  credit 
with  society.  This  curious  self-complacency  reaches 
its  climax  in  some  lines  addressed  to  Bandinelli,  who 
had  cast  Cellini's  murders  in  his  teeth.  Cellini  an- 
swered: "At  any  rate,  the  men  I  have  killed  do  not 
shame  me  so  much  as  your  bad  statues  shame  you ; 
for  the  earth  covers  my  victims,  whereas  yours  are 
exposed  to  the  view  of  the  world."  Little  did  he 
imagine  how  he  would  be  arraigned,  after  the  lapse 
of  full  three  centuries,  by  English  criticasters  for 
what, at  the  very  worst, he  reckoned  splendid  crimes! 

c  38 : 


INTRODUCTION 

Meanwhile  an  enormous  mass  of  historical  evidence 
remains  to  cast  explanatory  light  upon  his  singular 
illusion.1 

It  is  harder  to  extenuate  Cellini's  action  upon  two 
occasions  when  he  killed  nobody,  but  indulged  an 
infernal  instinct  of  revenge.  On  the  first  of  these 
occasions,  an  innkeeper  somewhere  near  Chioggia 
crossed  his  humour  about  the  proper  way  of  pay- 
ing the  host's  bill.3  Having  paid  it  overnight,  our 
friend  managed  to  slice  the  man's  new  beds  up  with 
his  knife  next  morning,  and  decamped,  after  doing 
more  than  fifty  crowns'  worth  of  damage.  The  sec- 
ond is  one  I  cannot  here  conveniently  deal  with.  It 
involves  the  whole  episode  of  Caterina  and  Paolo 
Micceri  in  Paris,  over  whichibiographers^of  Cellini 
would  willingly  draw  a  veil/and  the  details  of  which 
are  such  as^ojustify  thejpreticence  before  the  re- 
spectable (EngHsJ^public^  The  only  defence  which 
might  be  urged  for  Cellini  at  this  point  is  the  one 
which  Dante  used  in  self-exculpation  after  break- 
ing faith  with  Fra  Alberigo  on  that  hideous  glacier 
in  the  lowest  pit  of  hell.4  In  other  words,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  invoke  the  principle  that  rogues  should  be 
unmercifully  paid  out  in  their  own  coin  of  roguery. 
But  this  argument  will  hardly  serve  to  excuse  either 
Cellini's  brutalities  or  Dante's  malice. 

XVIII 

The  revolting  episode  of  Cellini's  dealings  with 
Caterina  suggests  another  aspect  of  his  character 

1  See  my  Renaissance  in  Italy,  'vol.  *vi.  chaps.  <v.,  <vi.  *  Lib.  i.  chap.  Ixxix. 

3  Lib.  ii.  chaps,  xxix.-xxxv.          *  Di<vina  Commedia,  Inferno,  xxxiii.  109-150. 

c  39 : 


INTRODUCTION 

which jmustj be  lightly  touched  on.  Not  even  a  pro- 
fessed apologist  can  deny  that  he  was  reckless  in 
the  indulgence  of  his  sensual  appetites.  We  have  no 
evidence  that  he  ever  felt  the  gentler  emotions  of 
love  for  a  woman.  Perhaps  his  passion  for  Angelica 
comes  nearest  to  a  tender  or  romantic  sentiment; 
but  the  grotesque  ending  of  that  adventure  deprives 
it  of  all  dignity.  On  the  other  hand,  women  of  loose 
life  play  a  large  part  in  his  Memoirs;  and  it  is  clear 
that  he  changed  mistresses  with  indiscriminate  facil- 
ity.  There  is,  moreover,  reason  to  believe  that  he 
was  not  free  from  theldarker  lusts; which  deformed 
Florentine  society  in  that  epoch.1  The  loves  to  which 
he  yielded  were  animal,  licentious,  almost  brutal; 
determined  to  some  extent  by  an  artist's  feeling  for 
beauty,  but  controlled  by  no  moral  sense  and  ele- 
vated by  no  spiritual  enthusiasm. 

XIX 

Passing  now  from  the  man  to  the  writer  and  the 
artist,  we  have  first  to  regard  Cellini  as  the  com- 
poser of  one  of  the  world's  three  or  four  best  auto- 
biographies, and  next  as  the  most  eminent  exponent 
of  the  later  Italian  Renaissance  in  craftsmanship  of 
several  kinds. 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  quote  authorities  upon 
the  high  esteem  in  which  the  Memoirs  are  held,  both 
for  their  style  and  matter,  by  Italians.  Baretti's  em- 

1  Of  course  he  loudly  protests  his  innocence.  But  his  precipitate  flight  after  the  af- 
fair ofCencio  (lib.  ii.  chap.  Ixi.)  is  suspicious.  So  is  the  language  used  by  Bandi- 
nelli  in  his  altercation  with  Cellini  (ib.t  chap.  Ixx.).  It  must  also  be  added  that  he 
<was  imprisoned  in  1556  on  a  charge  of  unnatural  vice.  See  Mabellini  (Delle 
Rime  di  B.  C.,  pp.  106,  129)  on  this  point. 

i  40  3 


INTRODUCTION 

phatic  eulogy  can  hardly  be  called  exaggerated: 
"  The  Life  of  Benvenuto  Cellini,  written  by  himself 
in  the  pure  and  unsophisticated  idiom  of  the  Floren- 
tine people,  surpasses  every  book  in  our  literature 
for  the  delight  it  affords  the  reader/' 

In  truth,  without  multiplying  passages  of  panegy- 
ric, I  am  confident  that  every  one  who  may  have 
curiously  studied  Italian  history  and  letters  will  pro- 
nounce this  book  to  be  at  one  and  the  same  time 
the  most  perfect  extant  monument  of  vernacular 
Tuscan  prose,  and  also  the  most  complete  and 
lively  source  of  information  we  possess  regarding 
manners,  customs,  ways  of  feeling,  and  modes  of 
acting  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Those  who  have 
made  themselves  thoroughly  familiar  with  Cellini's 
Memoirs y  possess  the  substance  of  that  many-sided 
epoch  in  the  form  of  an  epitome.  It  is  the  first  book 
which  a  student  of  the  Italian  Renaissance  should 
handle  in  order  to  obtain  the  right  direction  for  his 
more  minute  researches.  It  is  the  last  book  to  which 
he  should  return  at  the  close  of  his  exploratory  voy- 
ages. At  the  commencement  he  will  find  it  invalu- 
able for  placing  him  at  the  exactly  proper  point  of 
view.  At  the  end  he  will  find  it  no  less  invaluable 
for  testing  and  verifying  the  conclusions  he  has 
drawn  from  various  sources  and  a  wide  circumfer- 
ence of  learning.  From  the  pages  of  this  book  the 
Genius  of  the  Renaissance,  incarnate  in  a  single  per- 
sonality, leans  forth  and  speaks  to  us.  Nowhere  else, 
to  my  mind,  whether  in  the  frescoes  of  the  Sistine 
Chapel  or  on  Palladian  palace  fronts,  in  Ariosto's 
cantos  or  in  Machiavelli's  dissertations,  do  we  find 


INTRODUCTION 

the  full  character  of  the  epoch  so  authentically 
stamped.  That  is  because  this  is  no  work  of  art  or 
of  reflection,  but  the  plain  utterance  of  a  man  who 
lived  the  whole  life  of  his  age,  who  felt  its  thirst 
for  glory,  who  shared  its  adoration  of  the  beautiful, 
who  blent  its  paganism  and  its  superstitions,  who 
represented  its  two  main  aspects  of  exquisite  sensi- 
bility to  form  and  almost  brutal  ruffianism.  We  must 
not  expect  from  Cellini  the  finest,  highest,  purest 
accents  of  the  Renaissance.  He  does  not,  as  an  art- 
ist, transport  us  into  the  heavens  of  Michel  Angelo 
and  Tintoretto.  He  has  nothing  of  Ariosto's  golden 
melody  or  Tasso's  romantic  love-chant.  He  cannot 
wield  Aretino's  lash  or  Machiavelli's  scalpel  of  an- 
alysis. But  his  Memoirs  enable  us  to  comprehend  how 
those  rarer  products  of  the  Italian  genius  at  a  cer- 
tain point  of  evolution  were  related  to  the  common 
stuff  of  human  nature  in  the  race  at  large.  For  stu- 
dents of  that  age  he  is  at  once  more  and  less  than 
his  illustrious  contemporaries;  less,  inasmuch  as  he 
distinguished  himself  by  no  stupendous  intellectual 
qualities;  more,  inasmuch  as  he  occupied  a  larger 
sphere  than  each  of  them  singly.  He  touched  the 
life  of  that  epoch  at  more  points  than  any  person 
who  has  left  a  record  of  his  doings.  He  was  the  first 
goldsmith  of  his  time,  an  adequate  sculptor,  a  rest- 
less traveller,  an  indefatigable  workman,  a  Bohemian 
of  the  purest  water,  a  turbulent  bravo,  a  courtier  and 
companion  of  princes ;  finally,  a  Florentine  who  used 
his  native  idiom  with  incomparable  vivacity  of  style. 
These  qualities  combined  in  a  single  personality, 
strongly  marked  by  specific  characteristics,  yet  pe- 

[42    3 


INTRODUCTION 

culiar  to  the  sixteenth  century  in  Italy,  render  him 
unique  as  a  guide  through  the  labyrinth  of  that  bril- 
liant but  perplexing  epoch. 

xx 

The  literary  merits  of  Cellini's  autobiography  de- 
mand a  passing  notice.  Notwithstanding  the  plebeian 
simplicity  of  his  language,  he  has  described  some 
scenes  with  a  dramatic  vigour  and  a  richness  of 
colouring  rarely  to  be  found  upon  the  pages  of 
romance  or  history.  Among  these  I  would  call  at- 
tention to  the  Roman  banquet,  during  which  Diego, 
dressed  magnificently  like  a  woman,  won  the  hom- 
age of  assembled  artists;  to  the  conjuration  in  the 
Coliseum;  Cecchino's  deathbed;  Benvenuto's  vision 
of  the  sun  while  lying  sick  and  hopeless  in  his  dun- 
geon; the  phantom  of  Charon  which  haunted  him 
throughout  a  lingering  fever;  the  exhibition  of  his 
Jupiter  in  the  great  gallery  of  Fontainebleau ;  the 
Parisian  law-court;  and  the  long  episode  of  his  cast- 
ing the  bronze  Perseus.  His  memory  was  so  tena- 
cious that  he  could  present  the  incidents  of  bygone 
years,  with  all  their  circumstances,  just  as  though 
his  eye  were  on  the  object.  Without  conscious  effort 
he  communicates  the  atmosphere,  the  local  colour, 
the  specific  feeling  of  each  place  he  visited.  Ferrara 
has  a  different  note  from  Florence,  Rome  from  Paris, 
in  his  narrative.  Yet  it  is  clear  that  he  never  took 
thought  about  word-painting.  The  literary  result  is 
not  attained  by  external  touches  of  description,  but 
by  the  vigorous  reproduction  of  a  multitude  of  im- 
pressions made  upon  his  eagerly  observant  nature. 


INTRODUCTION 

This  quality  of  vivid  vision  makes  itself  peculiarly 
felt  in  the  narrative  of  his  dangerous  passage  across 
the  Lake  of  Wallenstadt.1  Here  every  detail  contri- 
butes to  the  presentation  of  a  specifically  Swiss  land- 
scape— the  steep  and  cavernous  cliffs  of  the  Chur- 
firsten,  the  dreary  rain  beating  upon  precipitous 
lawns  and  hanging  fir-woods,  the  night-watchman 
in  the  town  of  Glarus,  the  sudden  breaking  of  a 
glorious  day  upon  the  Lake  of  Zurich,  and  then  the 
little  city  of  Zurich  itself — citta  maravigliosa  pulita 
quanta  un  gioiello. 

Having  already  touched  upon  his  power  of  por- 
trait-painting with  the  pen,  I  need  not  return  to  that 
topic.3  It  should,  however,  be  remarked  that  his 
method  of  sketching  men  resembles  his  treatment 
of  things  and  places.  There  is  very  little  of  descrip- 
tion. The  characters  present  themselves  so  vividly 
before  our  eyes  because  they  were  so  clearly  visi- 
ble to  Cellini's  mind  while  writing,  because  he  so 
firmly  seized  what  was  to  him  essential  in  their  per- 
sonalities, and  so  powerfully  communicated  the  im- 
pression made  upon  his  sensibilities  by  contact  with 
them. 

XXI 

Cellini's  autobiography  might  also  be  studied  from 
the  side  of  humour.  Many  passages  remind  us  of 
the  Florentine  Novelle,  notably  of  the  old  tale  en- 
titled //  Grasso  Legnaiuolo,  and  of  Lasca's  stories 
about  Pilucca  and  his  mischievous  companions.  Take, 
for  example,  the  episode  of  his  quarrel  with  Bernar- 

1  Lib.  i.  chaps.  xcv.-xc<vii.  *  See  above,  pp.  26,  27. 

C   44   ] 


INTRODUCTION 

done,  and  the  burlesque  revenge  with  which  he 
chastised  that  fellow's  coarseness.1  The  same  note 
of  Florentine  bizarrerie  distinguishes  the  less  agree- 
able incident  in  the  tavern  near  Chioggia.2  Again, 
how  racy,  how  native  to  the  soil,  is  that  altercation 
between  Cellini  and  the  old  hag  in  a  deserted  street 
of  the  plague-stricken  city!3  While  posing  as  a  hero, 
he  was  able  to  see  the  humorous  side  of  himself 
also.  This  is  shown  in  the  passage  where  he  relates 
how  his  good-natured  housekeeper  bantered  him.4 
But  it  is  enough  to  have  indicated  these  aspe6ts  of 
the  Memoirs.  The  charm  of  the  whole  book  very 
largely  consists  in  a  vivacity  and  elasticity  of  narra- 
tive style,  which  passes  from  grave  to  gay,  from 
passion  to  mirth,  from  the  serious  occupations  of  the 
artist  to  the  light  amusements  of  the  man  of  plea- 
sure, without  perceptible  transitions, the  author's  own 
intense  individuality  pervading  and  connecting  each 
successive  mood. 

XXII 

After  reviewing  Cellini's  autobiography,  it  should 
be  mentioned  that  he  appeared  in  his  own  lifetime 
as  an  author.5  He  published  two  treatises :  one  upon 
the  goldsmith's  art,  describing  its  several  processes 
in  detail;  another  upon  sculpture,  with  special  re- 
ference to  bronze-foundry.  These  dissertations  are 

1  Lib.  it.  chap.  Ixxxix.  *  Lib.  i.  chap.  Ixxix. 

3  Ibid.,  chap.  xl.  *  Lib.  ii.  chap.  lxx*vii. 

5  The  prose  luorks  and  colleSed  poems  may  best  be  studied  in  Milanesfs  edition 

(Florence,  Le  Monnier,  1857^).  Mabellims  little  book,  Delle  Rime  di  B.  C.  (Roma, 

Paravia,  1885,),  deserves  careful  attention  for  its  patient  and  subtle  analysis  of 

CeUims  'verses. 

C  45  3 


INTRODUCTION 

of  the  highest  value  for  students  of  Renaissance 
craftsmanship,  at  a  time  when  the  experience  of 
centuries  had  been  condensed  in  the  practice  and 
principles  of  a  first-rate  master.  They  rank,  more- 
over, as  excellent  specimens  of  sound  Italian  style 
applied  to  the  purpose  of  technical  exposition.1  In 
the  next  place,  we  possess  the  fragments  of  a  dis- 
course on  Architecture,  and  a  short  defence  of 
Sculpture  against  Painting,  from  which  numerous 
details  regarding  the  artist's  works  and  theories  can 
be  derived. 

Cellini,  like  every  Florentine  of  many-sided  gen- 
ius, was  also  ambitious  of  making  his  mark  as  a 
poet.  Some  specimens  of  his  compositions  will  be 
found  translated  in  the  following  pages;  and  a  col- 
lection has  recently  been  formed  of  his  scattered 
verses.  As  might  be  guessed,  they  are  not  the  pro- 
ductions of  a  literary  master ;  yet  they  confirm  our 
opinion  of  his  singularly  keen  and  stringent  person- 
ality. Having  received  no  education  in  letters,  Cel- 
lini never  learned  to  write  grammatically.  His  poe- 
try suffers  naturally  more  than  his  prose  from  awk- 
ward incoherences.  He  rhymed  with  difficulty;  fre- 
quently tripped  in  rhythm  and  accent ;  and  affected 
such  far-fetched  conceits  and  violent  images  that 
a  large  portion  of  his  sonnets  are  unintelligible. 
Of  these  defects  he  was  fully  conscious,  speaking 
with  modest  humour  of  his  boschereccia  Musa,  or 
untutored  rustic  inspiration. 

1  We  ha<ve  good  reason  to  suppose  that  they  luere  re-written  by  a  man  of  letters 
before  going  to  press.  Signer  Milanesi  believes  that  Gherardo  Spini  performed  this 
office  for  the  author.  See  his  Trattati,  fifft,  Florence,  Le  Monnier,  1857,  p.  xvii. 
*  See  Milanesfs  edition  of  the  Trattati,  cited  above. 

C  46  1 


XXIII 

Cellini  has,  finally,  to  be  estimated  as  an  artist  in 
the  narrower  sense  of  that  word.  While  approach- 
ing this  part  of  our  subject,  it  is  worth  remembering 
that  he  showed  in  boyhood  a  strong  predilection  for 
the  arts  of  design.  His  father  longed  to  make  him 
a  musician;  but  though  the  lad  became  a  skilful 
flute-player,  he  displayed  the  strongest  aversion  to 
this  exercise  of  his  talents.  On  the  other  hand,  his 
love  for  drawing  and  his  inborn  mastery  over  tech- 
nical processes  of  all  kinds  made  themselves  so 
manifest,  that  no  doubt  remained  about  his  real 
vocation.  Like  nearly  all  the  greatest  Florentine 
artists  before  him,  sculptors,  painters,  architects, 
and  engravers,  he  was  put  at  an  early  age  to  the 
goldsmith's  trade.  Oreficeria,  as  then  understood, 
formed  an  epitome  of  all  the  plastic  arts.1  The  young 
goldsmith  did  not  merely  learn  how  to  work  in 
precious  metals  and  to  set  jewels.  He  was  bound  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  mysteries  of  brass- 
foundry,  the  methods  of  hammering  iron,  the  secrets 
of  chiselling  steel  for  medals  and  casting  dies.  He 
had  to  make  himself  an  expert  draughtsman,  to 
study  anatomy,  to  model  from  the  nude,  and  to 
acquire  familiarity  with  antique  masterpieces.  Enam- 
elling and  niello  formed  special  branches  of  his 
craft;  nor  could  architecture  be  neglecled,  because 

1  Of  this  relation  of  Oreficeria  to  the  other  arts  Cellini  himself  was  fully  conscious . 
He  writes  as  follows:  "  L"  arte  dell*  orefice,  per  essere  maggior  arte  di  tutte" 
Trattati,  p.  277. 

He  speaks  of  architecture,  sculpture,  and  painting  as  "  sorette  carnali"  of  Orefi- 
ceria. Ibid.,  p.  6. 

[  47  n 


INTRODUCTION 

he  was  often  called  upon  to  fashion  tabernacles,  and 
to  execute  large  works  in  gold  or  silver  which  re- 
sembled buildings  by  their  intricacy  of  design.  Dur- 
ing the  course  of  this  apprenticeship  he  gained  fur- 
ther insight  into  numerous  subordinate  processes, 
such  as  modelling  in  wax  or  stucco,  baking  terra- 
cotta, preparing  foils  for  gems.  He  studied  the  qual- 
ities of  precious  stones  and  pearls.  He  handled 
every  instrument,  from  the  hammer  of  the  gold- 
beater and  the  chisel  of  the  stone-cutter  down  to 
the  engraver's  burin  and  the  palette  of  paste-mixers. 
He  had  to  be  as  ready  at  the  anvil  or  the  furnace 
as  at  the  more  delicate  operations  of  wire-drawing 
and  filigree  manipulation.  From  the  workshop  of  a 
master-goldsmith  the  apprentice  went  forth  able  to 
sele6t  his  own  particular  branch  of  industry.  Mean- 
while it  must  not  be  forgotten  that,  so  long  as  he 
remained  a  goldsmith,  he  was  forced  to  work  in 
miniature.  His  many  technical  accomplishments  were 
employed  chiefly  in  producing  articles  of  plate,  jew- 
ellery, and  costly  furniture.  This  made  him,  while 
he  continued  in  the  trade,  a  servant  of  popular  ca- 
price and  fashion,  which  varied  with  the  change  of 
seasons.  Those  world-famous  masters  who,  like 
Ghirlandajo,  Donatello,  and  Brunelleschi,  won  glory 
by  their  subsequent  achievements  in  painting,  sculp- 
ture, and  architecture,  devoted  themselves  to  special 
studies  in  the  higher  arts  soon  after  their  prentice- 
days  were  over.  This  was  not  the  case  with  Cellini. 
He  continued  to  be  a  goldsmith  in  the  stric"l  sense 
of  that  term  until  he  had  completed  his  fortieth  year. 
This  fa6l  has  to  be  taken  into  account  when  we 

48 


INTRODUCTION 

criticise  his  serious  efforts  in  statuary. 

It  does  not  appear  that  during  his  early  manhood 
Cellini  felt  any  inclination  to  abandon  the  craft  which 
he  had  chosen  in  boyhood.  Perhaps  Nature  had  not 
gifted  him  with  those  imperative  instincts  which  force 
some  artists  to  become  sculptors  or  painters.  Per- 
haps the  large  admixture  of  the  bravo  and  the  plea- 
sure-seeker in  his  character  prevented  him  from 
applying  to  intellectual  studies,  and  from  using  his 
technical  acquirements  as  a  stepping-stone  toward 
nobler  undertakings.  It  would  indeed  seem  as  though 
he  was  naturally  formed  to  be  a  goldsmith,  but  that 
ambition  led  him  at  an  advanced  period  of  life  to 
rival  men  who  had  already  made  their  mark  in 
sculpture.  At  any  rate,  he  exercised  his  eminent 
artistic  faculties  through  more  than  half  his  lifetime 
in  the  humbler  trade,  earning  much  money  by  his 
undisputed  excellence,  spending  it  freely,  and  form- 
ing no  plans  for  the  future.  In  this  way  he  became 
an  adept  in  all  the  technicalities  of  plastic  art ;  but 
the  heart  and  soul  and  vigour  of  the  man  found  vent 
through  other  channels.  In  1527,  for  instance,  we 
know  that  he  was  upon  the  point  of  throwing  up 
his  profession  and  accepting  a  captaincy  under  Ora- 
zio  Baglioni.  The  bravo  and  the  soldier  kept  dis- 
puting with  the  artist  in  his  nature.  Meanwhile  he 
never  relaxed  his  efforts  to  become  the  most  expert 
and  inventive  goldsmith  of  his  time.  The  defects 
which  are  apparent  in  his  more  ambitious  works, 
and  which  I  shall  have  to  point  out  shortly,  may 
be  ascribed  to  this  composite  temper  and  to  this 
prolonged  contentment  with  a  subordinate  branch 

[  49 


INTRODUCTION 

of  industry.  He  had  the  qualities  of  a  consummate 
craftsman,  not  those  of  an  imaginative  artist,  who 
is  led  irresistibly  to  dedicate  his  life  with  all  its 
energies  to  the  ideal. 

XXIV 

Few  of  Benvenuto's  masterpieces  in  jewellery  and 
goldsmith's  work  survive.1  Artists  who  aspire  to  im- 
mortality should  shun  the  precious  metals.  The  same 
fate  has  probably  befallen  Cellini's  handiwork  as 
befell  the  jewels  he  took  to  pieces  in  the  Castle  of 
S.  Angelo.  Critics  have  blamed  his  callousness  on 
that  occasion ;  but  he  knew  well  that  it  is  of  no  use 
to  waste  a  sigh  over  things  in  their  nature  so  ephe- 
meral as  gold  and  silver  settings. Still,  some  authentic 
pieces  of  his  workmanship  may  be  inspected  in  the 
collections  of  Florence,  Vienna,  Paris,  Munich,  and 
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting 
are  the  golden  salt-cellar  at  Vienna  and  the  medal- 
lions of  Clement  VII.  and  Alessandro  de'  Medici,  since 
these  are  minutely  described  for  us  in  his  Memoirs. 
In  technical  excellence,  as  regards  all  processes  of 
handling, chasing,  and  engraving,  setting  and  mount- 
ing precious  stones,  enamelling  metals,  and  adapt- 
ing ingenious  designs  with  bold  invention  to  the  spe- 
cial purpose  of  the  obje6l,  these  rare  remnants  of 
Cellini's  art  defy  competition.  It  must,  however,  be 
admitted  that,  even  while  working  on  a  small  scale, 
he  displayed  more  manual  dexterity  and  more  orna- 

1  The  exhaustive  work  of  M.  Eugene  Plan,  Berrvenuto  Cellini,  Orfe-vre,  Medail- 
leur,  Sculpteur,  Paris,  1883,  contains  a  complete  catalogue  of  authentic  and  doubt- 
ful pieces. 

L  s°l 


—  PI 

<    r 

n  •> 


INTRODUCTION 

mental  luxuriance  than  any  of  the  higher  intellectual 
gifts.  The  man,  as  he  stands  revealed  in  his  auto- 
biography, was  lacking  in  reserve,  in  delicacy,  in 
fineness  of  emotion,  in  what  the  Germans  call  In- 
nigkeitj  in  elevation  of  soul  and  imaginative  purity. 
The  very  qualities  which  render  his  life-history 
dramatic  prove  the  externality  of  his  nature,  the 
violence  and  almost  coarseness  of  his  temperament, 
the  absence  of  poetry,  reflection,  reverie,  and  spir- 
itual atmosphere  in  his  whole  being.  We  are  not, 
therefore,  surprised  to  find  that  his  artistic  work, 
in  spite  of  its  prodigious  skill,  fecundity  of  inven- 
tion, energy,  and  thoroughness  of  execution,  is  de- 
ficient in  depth,  deficient  in  sweetness,  deficient  in 
true  dignity  and  harmony,  deficient  in  those  sug- 
gestive beauties  which  inspire  a  dream  and  waken 
sympathy  in  the  beholder. 

Shortcomings  of  this  kind  in  the  moral  and  intel- 
lectual elements  of  art  were  not  peculiar  to  Cellini. 
They  mark  nearly  the  whole  produ6tions  of  his 
epoch.  Only  at  Venice  did  the  really  grand  style 
survive  in  the  painting  of  Titian,  Veronese,  and  Tin- 
toretto. Michel  Angelo  indeed  was,  yet  alive  in 
1543,  the  year  when  Benvenuto  essayed  works  on 
a  large  scale  in  sculpture;  but  Michel  Angelo's 
greatest  achievements  belonged  to  the  past.  Giulio 
Romano  retained  something  of  the  sacred  fire  which 
animated  his  master  Raphael's  pictures.  His  vigor- 
ous but  coarse  and  soulless  frescoes  may  be  properly 
compared  with  Cellini's  statuary.  Meanwhile,  the 
marbles  of  Bandinelli  and  Ammanati,  the  manneristic 
productions  of  Montelupo  and  Montorsoli,  the  slo- 

1 51 : 


INTRODUCTION 

venly  performances  of  Vasari,  the  cold  and  vacuous 
paintings  of  Bronzino,  reveal  even  a  lower  spiritual  vi- 
tality. The  lamp  of  plastic  art  had  burned  low  in  Italy. 

XXV 

When  Cellini  left  the  sphere  of  jewellery  and  gold- 
smith's work,  that  emptiness  of  emotional  and  moral 
intention  on  which  I  have  been  dwelling  became 
even  more  apparent.  It  was  during  his  second  visit 
to  France,  in  the  year  1543,  that  he  aspired  to  be  a 
sculptor  in  the  stri6l  sense  of  the  word.  At  Paris  he 
began  to  cast  statues  on  a  large  scale  in  bronze, 
and  to  design  colossal  works  combining  statuary 
and  architecture.  Of  the  clay  models  for  the  foun- 
tain at  Fontainebleau,  with  its  gigantic  Mars,  so 
minutely  described  in  his  autobiography,  nothing, 
so  far  as  I  am  aware,  is  now  extant.  But  we  still 
possess  the  Nymph,  which  was  transferred  from 
Fontainebleau  by  Henry  II.  to  Diane  de  Poitier's 
country-seat  at  Anet,  and  thence  removed  to  the 
galleries  of  the  Louvre,  where  it  may  now  be  seen. 
The  defects  of  this  recumbent  figure  are  obvious. 
Though  it  might  pass  muster  on  a  candlestick,  the 
model,  expanded  to  something  over  life-size,  reveals 
a  fatal  want  of  meaning.  The  vacant  features,  the 
defective  physical  structure,  and  the  inert  pose  of 
this  nude  woman  are  not  compensated  by  the  suc- 
cess of  Benvenuto's  casting,  which  is  indeed  remark- 
able. All  the  bad  points  of  the  later  Florentine 
school  appear  here — a  preposterous  elongation  of 
the  body,  an  affected  attenuation  of  the  joints  and 
extremities,  and  a  complete  absence  of  expression. 

C  5*  3 


INTRODUCTION 

XXVI 

It  was  not  perhaps  Cellini's  fault  that,  having  worked 
till  past  forty  as  a  goldsmith,  he  should  fail  to  pro- 
duce an  ideal  statue  at  the  first  attempt.  We  ought 
rather  to  note  with  admiration  his  industry  in  the 
pursuit  of  this  new  aim,  and  the  progress  he  after- 
wards made  under  great  difficulties  at  Florence. 
His  sojourn  at  Paris  in  the  service  of  King  Francis 
somewhat  spoiled  him  as  a  man,  but  powerfully 
stimulated  his  energies  as  an  artist.  After  his  return 
to  Italy,  he  was  always  more  or  less  discontented 
with  his  lot;  but  he  never  ceased  to  be  ambitious. 
From  that  last  period  of  his  a<5tive  life  ( 1 545-1 559  ) 
five  eminent  specimens  of  sculptor's  work  remain. 
One  of  these  is  the  large  bronze  bust  of  Duke 
Cosimo,  now  to  be  seen  in  the  Palazzo  del  Bargello 
at  Florence.  It  is  an  unsympathetic  and  heavy  piece 
of  portraiture,  but  true  to  the  character  of  the  model. 
A  second  is  the  bust  of  Bindo  Altoviti  in  the  Palazzo 
Altoviti  at  Rome.  Another  is  the  antique  statue  in 
the  Uffizzi,  restored  by  Benvenuto  for  a  Ganymede. 
He  had  to  supply  the  head,  arms,  and  part  of  the 
legs  of  this  fragment.  The  marble,  so  far  as  I  re- 
member, is  well  wrought,  but  the  motive  of  the  re- 
stored figure  shows  a  misconception  of  classical  art. 
The  boy's  head,  to  begin  with, is  like  some  wax  block 
in  a  barber's  window — expressionless,  simpering, 
and  crisply  curled.  Then,  instead  of  lifting  the  cup 
for  Jove  to  drink  from,  this  Florentine  Ganymede 
teases  a  fawning  eagle  at  his  side  by  holding  up 
a  goldfinch  for  the  royal  bird  to  peck  at.  Before 

c  53 : 


INTRODUCTION 

speaking  of  the  Perseus,  which  is  Cellini's  master- 
piece, I  must  allude  to  his  Crucifix  in  white  marble. 
This  he  esteemed  one  of  his  best  productions,  and 
we  have  abundant  evidence  to  prove  that  folk  in 
Florence  were  of  his  opinion.  It  still  exists  in  the 
Escorial,  whither  the  Grand  Duke  sent  it  as  a 
present  to  Philip  II.  of  Spain.  Not  having  seen  the 
Crucifix,  I  can  pass  no  judgment  on  its  artistic  qual- 
ity or  value  as  a  piece  of  Christian  sculpture.1 

XXVII 

Cellini's  most  substantial  title  to  fame  rests,  and 
must  always  rest,  upon  his  Perseus,  that  dramatic 
bronze  so  superbly  placed  upon  its  pedestal  in  the 
Loggia  de*  Lanzi,  fronting  the  great  piazza  of  Flo- 
rence. Until  quite  recently  this  statue  stood  in  close 
proximity  to  Michel  Angelo's  David.  It  still  chal- 
lenges comparison  with  Donatello's  Judith,  the 
Hercules  and  Cacus  of  Bandinelli,  Ammanati's  Nep- 
tune, and  Gian  Bologna's  Rape  of  the  Sa'bines.  Sur- 
rounded by  these  earlier  and  contemporary  per- 
formances of  the  Florentine  school,  the  Perseus 
holds  its  own  with  honour.  It  lacks,  indeed,  the  se- 
vere pregnancy  and  sombre  reserve  of  Donatello's 
style.  It  misses  the  athletic  simplicity  and  massive 
strength  of  Michel  Angelo's  hero.  But  it  has  some- 
thing of  fascination,  a  bravura  brilliancy,  a  sharpness 
of  technical  precision,  a  singular  and  striking  pic- 
turesqueness,  which  the  works  of  those  elder  mas- 
ters want.  Far  above  Gian  Bologna's  academical 

1  The  fine  engraving  of  this  crucifix  in  Plans  book  (planche  xx.)  suggests  that 
Cellini  aimed  at  a  realistic  representation  of  physical  exhaustion. 

C  54  H 


INTRODUCTION 

group  of  two  naked  men  and  a  naked  woman,  above 
the  blatant  incapacity  of  Bandinelli  and  the  dull 
pomposity  of  Ammanati,  the  Perseus  soars  into  a 
region  of  authentic,  if  not  pure  or  sublime,  inspira- 
tion. No  one  who  has  seen  it  once  will  forget  that 
ornate  figure  of  the  demigod,  triumphant  in  his 
stately  pose  above  the  twisted  corpse  of  the  decapi- 
tated Gorgon. 

Much  might  be  urged  in  depreciation  of  Cellini's 
Perseus.  Contrary  to  the  traditions  of  later  Floren- 
tine design,  the  hero's  body  is  too  thick,  his  limbs 
too  coarse,  and  his  head  too  large  for  statuesque 
dignity.  Why  this  should  be  so  tempts  our  curiosity; 
for  the  small  wax  model  made  by  Cellini,  and  now 
preserved  among  several  precious  relics  of  like  sort 
in  the  Palazzo  del  Bargello,  exhibits  the  same  fig- 
ure with  longer  and  slimmer  proportions.  There  the 
Perseus  stands  as  light  and  airy  as  Gian  Bologna's 
Mercury,  without  any  loss  of  his  superhuman  vi- 
gour. I  have  sometimes  indulged  the  conjecture 
that  Benvenuto  deliberately  shortened  and  thickened 
his  statue  with  the  view  of  working  it  in  bronze. 
We  know  that  he  was  anxiously  preoccupied  with 
the  problem  of  casting  the  whole  figure  in  such 
wise  that  the  liquid  metal  should  fill  all  parts  of  the 
mould,  from  the  upraised  head  of  Medusa  to  the 
talaria  and  feet  of  Perseus,  at  one  jet.  He  succeeded 
in  this  tour  de  force  of  technical  dexterity.  But  pos- 
sibly he  sacrificed  the  grace  and  elevation  of  his 
own  conception  to  the  ambition  of  the  craftsman. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  the  first  defect  to  notice  in  the 
Perseus  is  this  of  physical  vulgarity.  Then  the  face 

:  55 : 


INTRODUCTION 

is  comparatively  vacant  of  expression,  though  less 
so  than  with  many  of  the  master's  works.  Next,  the 
helmet  is  surcharged  with  ornament,  and  the  torso 
displays  many  meaningless  muscular  details.  But 
after  these  criticisms  have  been  made,  the  group — 
that  is,  the  conquering  hero  and  the  prostrate  Gor- 
gon— remains  one  of  the  most  attractive  produces 
of  modern  statuary.  We  discern  in  it  the  last  spark 
of  genuine  Italian  Renaissance  inspiration.1  It  is  still 
instinct  with  the  fire  and  bizarre  force  of  Florentine 
genius. 

The  pedestal  has  been,  not  altogether  unjustly, 
blamed  for  being  too  small  for  the  statue  it  supports. 
In  proportion  to  the  mass  of  bronze  above  it,  this 
elaborately  decorated  base  is  slight  and  overloaded 
with  superfluous  details.  Yet  I  do  not  feel  sure  that 
Cellini  might  not  have  pleaded  something  in  self- 
defence  against  our  criticism.  No  one  thinks  of  the 
pedestal  when  he  has  once  caught  sight  of  Perseus. 
It  raises  the  demigod  in  air;  and  that  suffices  for 
the  sculptor's  purpose.  Afterwards,  when  our  minds 
are  satiated  with  the  singular  conception  so  intensely 
realised  by  the  enduring  art  of  bronze,  we  turn  in 
leisure  moments  to  the  base  on  which  the  statue 
rests.  Our  fancy  plays  among  those  masks  and  cornu- 
copias, those  goats  and  female  Satyrs,  those  little 
snuff-box  deities,  and  the  wayward  bas-relief  be- 
neath them.  There  is  much  to  amuse,  if  not  to  instruct 
or  inspire  us  there. 


*  The  works  of  Jean  Boullogne  of  Douai,  commonly  called  Gian  Bologna,  'which 
are  somewhat  later  in  date  than  Cellini's,  ought  perhaps  to  have  been  mentioned 
as  exceptions  in  the  sentence  above. 

I   56] 


INTRODUCTION 

Although  the  Perseus  may  not  be  a  great  work 
of  plastic  design,  worthy  of  sculpture  in  its  best 
periods,  it  can  never  cease  to  be  the  most  charac- 
teristic producl  of  the  vehement,  ambitious  artist's 
soul  which  throbbed  in  the  writer  of  Cellini's  Me- 
moirs. It  remains  the  final  effort  of  Florentine  genius 
upon  the  wane,  striking  a  last  blow  for  the  ideals, 
mistaken,  perchance,  but  manfully  pursued,  which 
Florence  followed  through  the  several  stages  of 
the  Renaissance. 

XXVIII 

Cellini's  autobiography  circulated  in  MS.  and  was 
frequently  copied  before  its  first  committal  to  the 
press  in  1730.  The  result  is  that  the  extant  MSS. 
differ  considerably  in  their  readings,  and  that  the 
editions,  of  which  I  am  acquainted  with  six,  namely, 
those  of  Cocchi,  Carpani,  Tassi,  Molini,  Bianchi, 
and  Camerini,  have  by  no  means  equal  value.1  The 

1  i.  Antonio  Cocchis  edition  'was  printed  at  Naples  in  1730,  'with  the  date  Colo- 
nia.  2.  Gio.  Palamede  Carpani 's  'was  printed  in  three  volumes  at  Milan,  Soc.  Tip. 
de"1  Classici  Italiani,  in  1806.  3.  Francesco  Tassfs  appeared  at  Florence,  Guglielmo 
Pialti,  in  three  'volumes,  1829.  4.  Giuseppe  Molinfs  appeared  at  Florence,  Tipogr. 
alT  insegna  di  Dante,  in  tivo  'volumes,  1832.  "This  edition  had  been  preceded  by  a 
duodecimo  text  published  by  Molini  on  the  T,oth  of  December  1830,  simultaneously 
with  Tassfs  above  mentioned.  When  Molini  compared  Tassi  s  text  'with  the  Lau- 
rentian  MS.,  he  saw  that  there  'was  room  for  a  third  edition  (that  of  1832^),  more 
exati  than  either.  5.  B.  Bianchi' s  appeared  at  Florence,  Le  Monnier,  i  'vol.,  1852. 
6.  That  of  Eugenia  Camerini,  Milan,  Sonzogno,  1886,  is  a  popular  reprint, 'with 
an  introduction  and  some  additional  notes.  The  text  'which  I  have  principally  used 
is  Bianchi  s.  I  may  here  take  occasion  to  explain  that  the  notes  appended  to  my 
translation  have  to  a  large  extent  been  condensed  from  the  annotations  of  Carpani  s, 
Tassis,  and  Molims  editions,  with  some  additional  information  derived  from  Bi- 
anchi, Camerini,  and  the  valuable  French  work  of  Plon  (B.  C.,  Orfevre,  Medail- 
leur,  Sculpteur,  Paris,  1883^).  A  considerable  number  of  notes  have  been  supplied 
by  myself,  partly  upon  details  respecting  the  Italian  text,  and  partly  upon  points 
connected  with  history  and  technical  artistic  processes.  It  does  not  seem  necessary 

C  57] 


INTRODUCTION 

one  to  be  generally  recommended  is  that  of  Signor 
B.  Bianchi,  founded  upon  the  preceding  edition  of 
Molini.  Tassi  and  Molini,  I  must  state,  were  the 
first  editors  to  avail  themselves  of  the  original  or 
parent  codex,  while  Bianchi  compared  Molini 's 
printed  text  throughout  with  the  autograph.  This 
authoritative  MS.  belongs  to  the  Laurentian  collec- 
tion in  Florence.  It  was  written  for  the  most  part 
by  Michele  di  Goro  Vestri,  the  youth  whom  Cellini 
employed  as  his  amanuensis;  in  some  parts  also  by 
himself,  and  again  by  a  second  amanuensis.  Perhaps 
we  owe  its  abrupt  and  infelicitous  conclusion  to  the 
fa6l  that  Benvenuto  disliked  the  trouble  of  writing 
with  his  own  hand.  From  notes  upon  the  codex,  it 
appears  that  this  was  the  MS.  submitted  to  Bene- 
detto Varchi  in  1559.  It  once  belonged  to  Andrea, 
the  son  of  Lorenzo  Cavalcanti.  His  son,  Lorenzo 
Cavalcanti,  gave  it  to  the  poet  Redi,  who  used  it  as 
a  testo  di  lingua  for  the  Delia  Cruscan  vocabulary. 
Subsequently  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  book- 
sellers, and  was  bought  by  L.  Poirot,who  bequeathed 
it,  on  his  death  in  1825,  to  the  Laurentian  Library.1 
The  autobiography  has  been  translated  into  Ger- 
man by  Goethe,  into  French  by  Leopold  Leclanche, 
and  into  English  by  Nugent  and  Roscoe.  The  Ger- 
man version,  I  need  hardly  say,  is  an  excellent 
piece  of  pure  and  solid  style;  and,  for  the  most  part, 
I  have  found  it  reproduce  the  meaning  of  the  ori- 

afte r  this  acknowledgment,  to  refer  each  item  to  the  original  sources  'which  have 
been  successively  incorporated  into  a  variorum  commentary  on  the  Memoirs,  or  to 
indicate  the  portion  I  can  claim  for  my  o-iun  researches. 

1  See  Tassi,  vol.  i.  pp.  xix.-xxiv.;  and  Molini,  vol.  i.  pp.  vi.-ix.,for  the  history  of 
this  MS. 

L  58  H 


INTRODUCTION 

ginal  with  fidelity. The  French, which  appeared  sub- 
sequently to  a  version  of  Vasari  by  the  same  trans- 
lator, displays  a  more  intimate  familiarity  with  six- 
teenth-century Italian  than  Goethe's ;  but  it  is  some- 
times careless,  especially  toward  the  conclusion, 
showing  that  the  writer  did  not  always  choose  to 
follow  Cellini  in  his  redundancies  of  phrase.  Of  the 
English  version  which  bears  the  name  of  Thomas 
Roscoe,  son  to  the  distinguished  author  of  the  Lives 
of  Lorenzo  de  Medici  and  Leo  X. ,  I  am  unable  to 
speak  very  highly.  It  has  the  merit  of  a  sound  old- 
fashioned  style,  but  it  is  grossly  inaccurate ;  the  un- 
intentional misunderstandings  of  the  text  are  innu- 
merable, and  the  translator  has  felt  himself  at  liberty 
to  omit  or  to  misrepresent  whole  passages  which  he 
deemed  unfit  for  ears  and  eyes  polite.  Since  my 
excuse  for  offering  a  new  translation  to  the  English 
public  rests  upon  the  deficiencies  of  Roscoe,  I  must 
be  permitted  to  point  out  a  few  of  his  errors  in  this 
place. 

To  begin  with,  although  Mr.  Roscoe  in  his  pre- 
face declares  that  he  has  adhered  closely  to  the 
original  text  published  by  Molini,he  deals  unscrupu- 
lously with  some  important  passages.  For  example, 
he  blurs  the  incident  of  Faustina  and  her  waiting- 
maid  recorded  in  book  i.  chapter  xxix.  He  suppresses 
the  episode  of  Paolo  Micceri  and  Caterina  in  book  ii. 
chapters  xxx.,  xxxiii.-xxxv.  He  confuses  the  story 
of  Cencio  and  La  Gambetta  in  book  ii.  chapter  Ixi.  It 
is  true  that  he  might  defend  his  action  on  the  score 
that  these  passages  are  unedifying  and  offensive; 
but  he  ought  to  have  indicated  the  nature  and  ex- 

[  59  1 


INTRODUCTION 

tent  of  his  modifications  and  omissions.  Personally, 
I  am  of  opinion  that  if  a  book  is  worth  translating, 
it  ought  to  be  set  forth  at  full.  Upon  this  principle 
I  have  made  my  own  version,  feeling  that  it  is  not 
right  to  defraud  English  readers  of  any  insight  into 
the  conditions  of  society  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
or  of  any  insight  into  the  character  of  Cellini  him- 
self, which  these  Memoirs  may  afford.  Here, however, 
there  is  room  for  various  judgments;  and  some  cri- 
tics may  maintain  that  Roscoe  chose  the  more  ex- 
pedient method. 

Upon  the  point  of  accuracy,  on  the  other  hand, 
all  competent  judges  will  be  agreed.  I  therefore 
proceed  to  select  a  few  test-passages  which  will 
show  how  little  Roscoe's  translation  is  to  be  relied 
upon.  In  each  case  I  will  first  copy  the  Italian,  next 
add  a  literal  version,  and  finally  give  Roscoe's 
words : 


Questo  cartone  fu  la  prima  bella  opera  che  Michel 
Agnolo  mostro  delle  maravigliose  sue  virtu,  e  lo  fece 
a  gara  con  un  altro  che  lo  faceva.  (Bianchi,  p.  22.) 

This  cartoon  was  the  first  fine  work  of  art  which 
Michel  Agnolo  displayed  in  proof  of  his  marvellous 
talents,  and  he  made  it  in  competition  with  another 
draughtsman  (i.e.,  Lionardo  da  Vinci). 

This  cartoon  was  the  first  in  which  Michel  Agnolo 
displayed  his  extraordinary  abilities ;  as  he  made  this 
and  another,  which  were  to  adorn  the  hall.  ( Roscoe, 

p.  21. )' 

1  /  quote  from  Bohni  edition,  London,  1850.  The  italics  are  mine. 

60 


INTRODUCTION 

n 

Perche  vedevo  continuamente  i  fatti  del  divino  Mi- 
chel Agnolo  ...  e  da  quella  mai  mi  sono  ispiccato. 
(Bianchi,  p.  23.) 

Because  I  kaS'perpetually  before  my  eyes  the  works 
of  the  divine  Michel  Agnolo  .  .  .  and  from  it  I  have 
never  swerved. 

Because  I  had  seen  the  works  of  the  divine  Michel 
Agnolo  .  .  .  and  never  once  lost  sight  of  it.  ( Roscoe, 

p.  23.) 

ni 

Cosi  ci  legammo  i  grembiuli  indietro.  ( Bianchi,  p.  25.) 
So  we  tied  our  aprons  behind  our  backs. 
So  we  buckled  on  our  knapsacks.  (Roscoe,  p.  25.) 

IV 

Mi  prego,  che  io  facessi  di  sorte  che  lui  T  avessi  a' 
sua  di.  (Bianchi,  p.  101.) 

He  begged  me  so  to  work  that  he  should  have  it 
during  his  lifetime. 

Requested  me  to  endeavour  to  please  him  by  my  ex- 
ecution. 

v 
Me  ne  andai  dalli  destri  del  mastio.  ( Bianchi,  p.  239.) 

I  went  toward  the  latrines  of  the  fortress. 

I  went  and  got  out  upon  the  right  side  of  the  tower. 
(Roscoe,  p.  248.) 

VI 

Perche  io  ho  considerato  che  in  quella  vostra  forma  e 
entrato  piu  roba  che  '1  suo  dovere.  ( Bianchi,  p.  322. ) 

C«'    I 


INTRODUCTION 

For  I  have  reflected  that  more  metal  entered  that 
mould  of  yours  than  it  could  properly  hold. 

For  I  have  taken  into  consideration  that  there  has 
been  a  greater  consumption  of  metal  upon  this  work 
than  should  have  been.  (Roscoe,  p.  323.) 

VII 

Se  io  avessi  veduto  mettervi  nella  forma  F  anima,  con 
una  sola  parola  io  v'  arei  insegnato  che  la  figura  sa- 
rebbe  venuta  benissimo.  ( Bianchi,  p.  323. ) 

If  I  had  seen  you  placing  your  block  inside  the 
mould,  I  could  with  one  word  have  taught  you  how 
the  figure  would  have  come  out  to  perfection. 

If  I  had  but  instructed  you  with  a  single  word,  the 
figure  would  have  come  out  admirably.  (Roscoe, 
p.  323.) 

VIII 

Mandate  a  1'  Elba.  (Bianchi,  p.  421.) 
Sent  to  the  island  of  Elba. 
Sent  to  the  Elbe.  (Roscoe,  p.  413.) 

IX 

La  qual  cosa  non  credette  mai  nessuno  di  questi  pra- 
tici  di  quella  arte.  (Bianchi,  p.  421.) 

Which  none  of  the  masters  versed  in  that  art  be- 
lieved to  be  possible. 

And  do  not  imagine  that  every  common  artist  could 
have  done  as  much.  (Roscoe,  p.  41 3-) 

x 
E'  bisognava  fare  molto  maggiore  la  fornace,  dove 


INTRODUCTION 

io  arei  potuto  fare  un  rame  di  gitto,  grosso  quanto  io 
ho  la  gamba,  e  con  quella  gravezza  di  metallo  caldo 
per  forza  ve  F  arei  fatto  andare ;  dove  il  mio  ramo 
che  va  insino  a'  piedi  quella  sei  braccia  che  io  dico, 
non  e  grosso  piu  che  dua  dita.  Impero  e'  non  por- 
tava  '1  pregio.  (Bianchi,  p.  423.) 

I  must  have  made  the  furnace  much  larger,  in  which 
case  I  might  have  constructed  a  conduit  as  thick  as 
my  leg,  and  so  by  the  weight  of  the  molten  metal  I 
could  have  forced  it  down ;  whereas,  my  pipe,  which 
runs  the  six  cubits  I  have  stated  to  the  statue's  feet, 
is  not  thicker  than  two  inches.  However,  it  was  not 
worth  the  trouble  and  expense. 

I  must  then  have  made  the  furnace  much  bigger, 
to  be  able  to  cast  apiece  of  brass  as  thick  as  my  leg,  and 
with  that  weight  of  hot  metal  I  should  have  made  it 
come  out  by  force;  whereas,  my  brass,  which  goes 
down  to  the  feet  six  cubits,  as  I  mentioned  before,  is 
not  above  two  inches  thick.  Therefore  it  was  not  worth 
your  notice.  (Roscoe,  p.  415.) 

XI 

Io  feci  una  manica.  (Bianchi,  p.  424.) 
I  made  a  funnel-shaped  furnace. 
I  made  a  sort  offence.  (Roscoe,  p.  416.) 

xn 

Dare  nelle  spine.  (Bianchi,  p.  426.) 
Drive  in  the  plugs. 
Pour  out  the  hot  metal.  (Roscoe,  p.  417.) 


INTRODUCTION 

XIII 

II  principe  e  Don  Giovanni.  (Bianchi,  p.  450.) 

The  Prince  ( or  Duke's  eldest  son )  and  Don  Gio- 
vanni. 
The  princes ,  Don  Giovanni,  &c.  (Roscoe,  p.  437. ) 

XIV 

E  diceva  male  di  questo  popolo.  (Bianchi,  p.  455.) 
And  he  spoke  abusively  of  that  people  of  Florence. 
And  all  the  ill  that  was  said  of  him  by  the  populace. 

(Roscoe,  p.  441.) 

XV 

lo  ne  feci  un  poco  di  mal  giudizio,  ma  io  non  im- 
maginavo  nulla  di  quello  che  mi  avvenne.  (Bianchi, 
p.  481.) 

I  drew  a  somewhat  bad  conclusion  from  his  hint; 
but  I  did  not  in  the  least  pi6lure  to  myself  what  was 
going  to  happen  to  me. 

/  was  guilty  of  an  error  in  judgment,  but  was  not  at 
all  mistaken  in  what  happened  to  me.  ( Roscoe,  p.  467. ) 

XVI 

A  voi  e'  danno  tutte  le  stoviglie.  (Bianchi,  p.  483.) 
To  you  they  give  all  the  crockery. 
They  give  you  napkins.  (Roscoe,  p.  469.) 

XVII 

Io  sentendomi  ardere  il  sesso.  (Bianchi,  p.  483.) 
I,  feeling  my  seat  burn. 
I  felt  my  brain  all  on  fire.  (Roscoe,  p.  469.) 

[   64   -) 


INTRODUCTION 

XVIII 

Importava  la  maggior  gabella ;  e  che  egli  non  man- 
cherebbe.  (Bianchi,  p.  490.) 

It  (the  lease)  involved  the  highest  tax,  and  that 
he  would  not  fail  of  his  word. 

The  farm  would  produce  more,  and  could  not  possi- 
bly fail.  (Roscoe,  p.  475-) 

I  have  sele6led  these  few  instances  at  random,  when 
I  might  have  culled  the  like  by  handfuls.  But  I  may 
furthermore  add  that  Roscoe  is  hardly  less  negligent 
in  translating  the  Italian  of  Cellini's  commentators. 
Thus  we  read  on  page  265  this  version  of  a  note  by 
Carpani :  "  He  was  under  apprehension  of  being  flayed 
alive."  Carpani  wrote  scannato,  which  means  having 
his  throat  cut.1  It  remains  in  the  last  place  to  be  re- 
marked that  Roscoe  is  not  excused  by  having  fol- 
lowed bad  readings  of  the  original  or  incomplete  au- 
thorities. His  translation  (dated, in  its  second  edition, 
January  i ,  1 847 )  appeared  after  the  labours  of  Car- 
pani, Tassi,  and  Molini,  and  professes  on  the  title- 
page  to  be  "  collated  with  the  new  text  of  Giuseppe 
Molini/' 

I  have  now  shown  reason  why  a  new  translation 
of  Cellini's  autobiography  in  our  language  is  not  a 
superfluity.  At  the  same  time,  after  severely  criti- 
cising my  predecessor,  I  disclaim  the  pretension  that 
my  own  version  will  be  found  impeccable.  There  are 
many  passages  which  it  is  extremely  hard  for  an 
Italian  even,  versed  in  the  old  dialecl  of  Tuscany,  to 

1  Carpani,  'vol.  i.  p.  423. 

C«5   3 


INTRODUCTION 

understand.1  This  is  due  in  a  great  measure  to  Cel- 
lini's colloquial  style,  and  to  the  involved  construc- 
tions occasioned  by  his  impetuous  flow  of  utterance 
in  dictation,  but  also  to  his  habitual  use  of  familiar 
terms  regarding  life  and  art,  the  exacl:  significance 
of  which  can  now  be  hardly  reproduced.  Further- 
more, I  may  add  that  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  avoid 
slips  while  working  through  so  long  a  narrative  in 
prose,  and  aiming  at  a  certain  uniformity  of  diclion. 

The  truth  is,  that  to  translate  Cellini's  Memoirs  taxes 
all  the  resources  of  the  English  language.  It  is,  in  the 
first  place,  well-nigh  impossible  to  match  that  vast 
vocabulary  of  vulgar  phrases  and  technical  termi- 
nology. Some  of  Cellini's  most  vivid  illustrations  owe 
their  pungency  and  special  colouring  to  customs  which 
have  long  passed  out  of  current  usage.  Many  of  his 
most  energetic  epigrams  depend  for  their  effedl  upon 
a  spontaneous  employment  of  contemporary  Floren- 
tine slang.  Not  a  few  of  his  most  striking  descriptions 
lose  their  value  without  the  precise  equivalents  for 
works  of  art  or  handicraft  or  armoury  now  obsolete. 
In  the  next  place,  his  long-winded  and  ungrammati- 
cal  periods,  his  suspended  participles,  his  vehemently 
ill-conjugated  verbs,  his  garrulous  anacolutha  and 
passionate  aposiopeses,  his  ingenious  recourse  to  re- 
peated pronouns  and  reiterated  adverbs  for  sustain- 
ing a  tottering  sentence,  his  conversational  resump- 
tion of  the  same  connective  phrases,  his  breathless 
and  fiery  incoherence  following  short  incisive  clauses 
of  a  glittering  and  trenchant  edge,  all  these  peculiari- 
ties, dependent  on  the  man's  command  of  his  vernacu- 

1  See  Molinfi  preface  to  hit  edition,  vol.  i.  p.  x. 


INTRODUCTION 

lar  and  his  untutored  talent  for  expression,  offer 
stumbling-blocks  at  every  turn  to  the  translator  who 
wishes  to  preserve  something  of  the  tone  of  the  origi- 
nal while  presenting  a  continuous  discourse  to  modern 
readers.  The  almost  impossible  task  has  to  be  at- 
tempted of  reproducing  the  effect  of  heedless  ani- 
mated talking. 

My  own  system  has  been  to  adopt  a  compromise 
between  such  literal  rendering  as  might  have  made 
the  English  version  not  only  unpalatable,  but  almost 
unintelligible,  and  such  elaborate  recasting  of  the 
original  as  would  have  preserved  the  sense  at  a  re- 
grettable sacrifice  of  character  and  vivacity.  I  may 
here  notice  that  Cellini  appears,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  his  undertaking,  to  have  been  more  tenta- 
tive, more  involved  in  di6lion,  than  he  afterwards 
became;  in  facl,  he  only  gradually  formed  his  style. 
Therefore  I  have  suffered  the  earlier  sections  of  my 
version  to  retain  a  certain  stiffness,  which  relaxes  by 
degrees  until  the  style  of  the  translator  is  in  its  turn 
fashioned. 


BOOK  FIRST 


This  tale  of  my  sore-troubled  life  I  write , 
To  thank  the  God  of  nature,  who  conveyed 
tMy  soul  to  me,  and  with  such  care  hath  stayed 
That  divers  noble  deeds  I  've  brought  to  light. 

'Twos  He  subdued  my  cruel  fortune1  s  spite : 
Life  glory  virtue  measureless  hath  made 
Such  grace  worth  beauty  be  through  me  displayed 
That  few  can  rival,  none  surpass  me  quite. 

Only  it  grieves  me  when  I  understand 

What  precious  time  in  vanity  I've  spent — 
The  wind  it  beareth  man's  frail  thoughts  away. 

Yet,  since  remorse  avails  not,  I  'm  content, 
vfs  erst  I  came,  WELCOME  to  go  one  day, 
Here  in  the  Flower  of  this  fair  Tuscan  land. 


BENVENUTO    CELLINI 
(PAINTED    ON    PORPHYRY) 


THE  LIFE  OF 
BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

BOOK  FIRST 


LL  men  of  whatsoever  quality  they 
be,  who  have  done  anything  of  ex- 
cellence, or  which  may  properly  re- 
semble excellence,  ought,  if  they  are 
persons  of  truth  and  honesty,  to  de- 
scribe their  life  with  their  own  hand ; 
but  they  ought  not  to  attempt  so  fine  an  enterprise 
till  they  have  passed  the  age  of  forty.  This  duty 
occurs  to  my  own  mind,  now  that  I  am  travelling 
beyond  the  term  of  fifty-eight  years,  and  am  in  Flo- 
rence, the  city  of  my  birth.  Many  untoward  things 
can  I  remember,  such  as  happen  to  all  who  live 
upon  our  earth;  and  from  those  adversities  I  am 
now  more  free  than  at  any  previous  period  of  my 
career — nay,  it  seems  to  me  that  I  enjoy  greater 
content  of  soul  and  health  of  body  than  ever  I  did 
in  bygone  years.  I  can  also  bring  to  mind  some 
pleasant  goods  and  some  inestimable  evils,  which, 
when  I  turn  my  thoughts  backward,  strike  terror 
in  me,  and  astonishment  that  I  should  have  reached 
this  age  of  fifty-eight,  wherein,  thanks  be  to  God,  I 
am  still  travelling  prosperously  forward. 

ii 

It  is  true  that  men  who  have  laboured  with  some 
show  of  excellence,  have  already  given  knowledge 

c  71  n 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

of  themselves  to  the  world ;  and  this  alone  ought  to 
suffice  them ;  I  mean  the  fa<5l  that  they  have  proved 
their  manhood  and  achieved  renown.  Yet  one  must 
needs  live  like  others;  and  so  in  a  work  like  this 
there  will  always  be  found  occasion  for  natural  brag- 
ging, which  is  of  divers  kinds,  and  the  first  is  that  a 
man  should  let  others  know  he  draws  his  lineage 
from  persons  of  worth  and  most  ancient  origin. 

I  am  called  Benvenuto  Cellini,  son  of  Maestro  Gio- 
vanni, son  of  Andrea,  son  of  Cristofano  Cellini;  my 
mother  was  Madonna  Elisabetta,  daughter  to  Stefano 
Granacci;  both  parents  citizens  of  Florence.  It  is 
found  written  in  chronicles  made  by  our  ancestors 
of  Florence,  men  of  old  time  and  of  credibility,  even 
as  Giovanni  Villani  writes,  that  the  city  of  Florence 
was  evidently  built  in  imitation  of  the  fair  city  of 
Rome ;  and  certain  remnants  of  the  Colosseum  and 
the  Baths  can  yet  be  traced.  These  things  are  near 
Santa  Croce.  The  Capitol  was  where  is  now  the  Old 
Market.  The  Rotonda  is  entire,  which  was  made  for 
the  temple  of  Mars,  and  is  now  dedicated  to  our 
Saint  John.  That  thus  it  was,  can  very  well  be  seen, 
and  cannot  be  denied ;  but  the  said  buildings  are  much 
smaller  than  those  of  Rome.  He  who  caused  them  to 
be  built,  they  say,  was  Julius  Caesar,  in  concert  with 
some  noble  Romans,  who,  when  Fiesole  had  been 
stormed  and  taken,  raised  a  city  in  this  place,  and 
each  of  them  took  in  hand  to  ere6l  one  of  these  nota- 
ble edifices. 

Julius  Cassar  had  among  his  captains  a  man  of  high- 
est rank  and  valour,  who  was  called  Fiorino  of  Cellino, 
which  is  a  village  about  two  miles  distant  from  Monte 

I  72  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Fiascone.  Now  this  Fiorino  took  up  his  quarters  under 
the  hill  of  Fiesole,  on  the  ground  where  Florence 
now  stands,  in  order  to  be  near  the  river  Arno,  and 
for  the  convenience  of  the  troops.  All  those  soldiers 
and  others  who  had  to  do  with  the  said  captain,  used 
then  to  say:  "Let  us  go  to  Fiorenze;"  as  well  be- 
cause the  said  captain  was  called  Fiorino,  as  also  be- 
cause the  place  he  had  chosen  for  his  quarters  was 
by  nature  very  rich  in  flowers.  Upon  the  foundation 
of  the  city,  therefore,  since  this  name  struck  Julius 
Csesar  as  being  fair  and  apt,  and  given  by  circum- 
stance, and  seeing  furthermore  that  flowers  them- 
selves bring  good  augury,  he  appointed  the  name  of 
Florence  for  the  town.  He  wished  besides  to  pay  his 
valiant  captain  this  compliment;  and  he  loved  him  all 
the  more  for  having  drawn  him  from  a  very  humble 
place,  and  for  the  reason  that  so  excellent  a  man  was 
a  creature  of  his  own.  The  name  that  learned  inven- 
tors and  investigators  of  such  etymologies  adduce, 
as  that  Florence  is  flowing  at  the  Arno,  cannot  hold; 
seeing  that  Rome  is  flowing  at  the  Tiber,  Ferrara  is 
flowing  at  the  Po,  Lyons  is  flowing  at  the  Saone, 
Paris  is  flowing  at  the  Seine,  and  yet  the  names  of 
all  these  towns  are  different,  and  have  come  to  them 
by  other  ways.1 

Thus  then  we  find ;  and  thus  we  believe  that  we 
are  descended  from  a  man  of  worth.  Furthermore, 
we  find  that  there  are  Cellinis  of  our  stock  in  Ra- 

1  He  is  alluding  to  the  name  Fluenzia,  which  some  antiquaries  of  his  day  thought  to 
have  been  the  earliest  name  of  the  city,  derived  from  its  being  near  "  Arno  fluente." 
I  have  translated  the  'word  "Jluente  "  in  the  text  literally,  though  of  course  it  signifies 
"situated  on  a  flowing  river."  I  need  not  call  attention  to  the  apocryphal  nature  of 
Cellini  s  own  derivation  from  the  name  of  his  supposed  ancestor. 

C'  78  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

venna,  that  most  ancient  town  of  Italy,  where  too 
are  plenty  of  gentle  folk.  In  Pisa  also  there  are 
some,  and  I  have  discovered  them  in  many  parts  of 
Christendom;  and  in  this  state  also  the  breed  exists, 
men  devoted  to  the  profession  of  arms;  for  not 
many  years  ago  a  young  man,  called  Luca  Cellini, 
a  beardless  youth,  fought  with  a  soldier  of  experi- 
ence and  a  most  valorous  man,  named  Francesco 
da  Vicorati,  who  had  frequently  fought  before  in 
single  combat.  This  Luca,  by  his  own  valour,  with 
sword  in  hand,  overcame  and  slew  him,  with  such 
bravery  and  stoutness  that  he  moved  the  folk  to 
wonder,  who  were  expecting  quite  the  contrary 
issue;  so  that  I  glory  in  tracing  my  descent  from 
men  of  valour. 

As  for  the  trifling  honours  which  I  have  gained 
for  my  house,  under  the  well-known  conditions  of 
our  present  ways  of  living,  and  by  means  of  my 
art,  albeit  the  same  are  matters  of  no  great  moment, 
I  will  relate  these  in  their  proper  time  and  place, 
taking  much  more  pride  in  having  been  born  hum- 
ble and  having  laid  some  honourable  foundation  for 
my  family,  than  if  I  had  been  born  of  great  lineage 
and  had  stained  or  overclouded  that  by  my  base 
qualities.  So  then  I  will  make  a  beginning  by  saying 
how  it  pleased  God  I  should  be  born. 

in 

My  ancestors  dwelt  in  Val  d'Ambra,  where  they 
owned  large  estates,  and  lived  like  little  lords,  in 
retirement,  however,  on  account  of  the  then  con- 
tending factions.  They  were  all  men  devoted  to 

C  74] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

arms  and  of  notable  bravery.  In  that  time  one  of 
their  sons,  the  younger,  who  was  called  Cristofano, 
roused  a  great  feud  with  certain  of  their  friends 
and  neighbours.  Now  the  heads  of  the  families  on 
both  sides  took  part  in  it,  and  the  fire  kindled 
seemed  to  them  so  threatening  that  their  houses 
were  like  to  perish  utterly;  the  elders  upon  this 
consideration,  in  concert  with  my  own  ancestors, 
removed  Cristofano ;  and  the  other  youth  with  whom 
the  quarrel  began  was  also  sent  away.  They  sent 
their  young  man  to  Siena.  Our  folk  sent  Cristofano 
to  Florence ;  and  there  they  bought  for  him  a  little 
house  in  Via  Chiara,  close  to  the  convent  of  S.  Orsola, 
and  they  also  purchased  for  him  some  very  good 
property  near  the  Ponte  a  Rifredi.  The  said  Cristo- 
fano took  wife  in  Florence,  and  had  sons  and  daugh- 
ters ;  and  when  all  the  daughters  had  been  portioned 
off,  the  sons,  after  their  father's  death,  divided  what 
remained.  The  house  in  Via  Chiara  with  some  other 
trifles  fell  to  the  share  of  one  of  the  said  sons,  who 
had  the  name  of  Andrea.  He  also  took  wife,  and  had 
four  male  children.  The  first  was  called  Girolamo, 
the  second  Bartolommeo,  the  third  Giovanni,  who 
was  afterwards  my  father,  and  the  fourth  Francesco. 
This  Andrea  Cellini  was  very  well  versed  in  archi- 
tecture, as  it  was  then  practised,  and  lived  by  it  as 
his  trade.  Giovanni,  who  was  my  father,  paid  more  at- 
tention to  it  than  any  of  the  other  brothers.  And  since 
Vitruvius  says,  amongst  other  things,  that  one  who 
wishes  to  practise  that  art  well  must  have  something 
of  music  and  good  drawing,  Giovanni,  when  he  had 
mastered  drawing,  began  to  turn  his  mind  to  music, 

C   75  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

and  together  with  the  theory  learned  to  play  most  ex- 
cellently on  the  viol  and  the  flute;  and  being  a  per- 
son of  studious  habits,  he  left  his  home  but  seldom. 
They  had  for  neighbour  in  the  next  house  a  man 
called  Stefano  Granacci,  who  had  several  daughters, 
all  of  them  of  remarkable  beauty.  As  it  pleased 
God,  Giovanni  noticed  one  of  these  girls  who  was 
named  Elisabetta;  and  she  found  such  favour  with 
him  that  he  asked  her  in  marriage.  The  fathers  of 
both  of  them  being  well  acquainted  through  their 
close  neighbourhood,  it  was  easy  to  make  this  match 
up;  and  each  thought  that  he  had  very  well  ar- 
ranged his  affairs.  First  of  all  the  two  good  old  men 
agreed  upon  the  marriage;  then  they  began  to  dis- 
cuss the  dowry,  which  led  to  a  certain  amount  of 
friendly  difference;  for  Andrea  said  to  Stefano: 
"  My  son  Giovanni  is  the  stoutest  youth  of  Florence, 
and  of  all  Italy  to  boot,  and  if  I  had  wanted  ear- 
lier to  have  him  married,  I  could  have  procured  one 
of  the  largest  dowries  which  folk  of  our  rank  get 
in  Florence:"  whereupon  Stefano  answered:  "You 
have  a  thousand  reasons  on  your  side ;  but  here  am 
I  with  five  daughters  and  as  many  sons,  and  when 
my  reckoning  is  made,  this  is  as  much  as  I  can  pos- 
sibly afford."  Giovanni,  who  had  been  listening 
awhile  unseen  by  them,  suddenly  broke  in  and  said: 
"O  my  father,  I  have  sought  and  loved  that  girl 
and  not  their  money.  Ill  luck  to  those  who  seek  to 
fill  their  pockets  by  the  dowry  of  their  wife!  As 
you  have  boasted  that  I  am  a  fellow  of  such  parts, 
do  you  not  think  that  I  shall  be  able  to  provide  for 
my  wife  and  satisfy  her  needs,  even  if  I  receive 

c  76 n 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

something  short  of  the  portion  you  would  like  to 
get?  Now  I  must  make  you  understand  that  the 
woman  is  mine,  and  you  may  take  the  dowry  for 
yourself."  At  this  Andrea  Cellini,  who  was  a  man 
of  rather  awkward  temper,  grew  a  trifle  angry ;  but 
after  a  few  days  Giovanni  took  his  wife,  and  never 
asked  for  other  portion  with  her. 

They  enjoyed  their  youth  and  wedded  love  through 
eighteen  years,  always  greatly  desiring  to  be  blessed 
with  children.  At  the  end  of  this  time  Giovanni's  wife 
miscarried  of  two  boys  through  the  unskilfulness  of 
the  doctors.  Later  on  she  was  again  with  child,  and 
gave  birth  to  a  girl,  whom  they  called  Cosa,  after  the 
mother  of  my  father.1  At  the  end  of  two  years  she 
was  once  more  with  child ;  and  inasmuch  as  those  long- 
ings to  which  pregnant  women  are  subject,  and  to 
which  they  pay  much  attention,  were  now  exactly  the 
same  as  those  of  her  former  pregnancy,  they  made 
their  minds  up  that  she  would  give  birth  to  a  female  as 
before,  and  agreed  to  call  the  child  Reparata,  after  the 
mother  of  my  mother.  It  happened  that  she  was  de- 
livered on  a  night  of  All  Saints,  following  the  feast- 
day,  at  half-past  four  precisely,  in  the  year  i5oo.2 
The  midwife,  who  knew  that  they  were  expecting 
a  girl,  after  she  had  washed  the  baby  and  wrapped 
it  in  the  fairest  white  linen,  came  softly  to  my  father 
Giovanni  and  said :  "  I  am  bringing  you  a  fine  pre- 
sent, such  as  you  did  not  anticipate."  My  father,  who 
was  a  true  philosopher,  was  walking  up  and  down, 

1  Cosa  is  Florentine  for  Niccolosa. 

z  The  hour  is  reckoned,  according  to  the  old  Italian  fashion,  from  sunset  of  one  day  to 

sunset  of  the  next  —  twenty-four  hours. 

I  77  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

and  answered:  "What  God  gives  me  is  alway  dear 
to  me;"  and  when  he  opened  the  swaddling  clothes, 
he  saw  with  his  own  eyes  the  unexpected  male  child. 
Joining  together  the  palms  of  his  old  hands,  he  raised 
them  with  his  eyes  to  God,  and  said:  "Lord,  I  thank 
Thee  with  my  whole  heart  ;  this  gift  is  very  dear  to 
me  ;  let  him  be  Welcome/'  All  the  persons  who  were 
there  asked  him  joyfully  what  name  the  child  should 
bear.  Giovanni  would  make  no  other  answer  than 
"Let  him  be  Welcome  —  Benvenuto;"1  and  so  they 
resolved,  and  this  name  was  given  me  at  Holy  Bap- 
tism, and  by  it  I  still  am  living  with  the  grace  of  God. 


Andrea  Cellini  was  yet  alive  when  I  was  about  three 
years  old,  and  he  had  passed  his  hundredth.  One  day 
they  had  been  altering  a  certain  conduit  pertaining 
to  a  cistern,  and  there  issued  from  it  a  great  scorpion 
unperceived  by  them,  which  crept  down  from  the 
cistern  to  the  ground,  and  slank  away  beneath  a 
bench.  I  saw  it,  and  ran  up  to  it,  and  laid  my  hands 
upon  it.  It  was  so  big  that  when  I  had  it  in  my  little 
hands,  it  put  out  its  tail  on  one  side,  and  on  the  other 
thrust  forth  both  its  mouths.2  They  relate  that  I  ran 
in  high  joy  to  my  grandfather,  crying  out:  "Look, 
grandpapa,  at  my  pretty  little  crab."  When  he  recog- 
nised that  the  creature  was  a  scorpion,  he  was  on  the 
point  of  falling  dead  for  the  great  fear  he  had  and 
anxiety  about  me.  He  coaxed  and  entreated  me  to 

1  Benvenuto  means  Welcome. 

3  'Ike  luord  is  bocche,  so  I  ha<ve  translated  it  by  mouths.  But  Cellini  clearly  meant 

the  gaping  claius  of  the  scorpion. 

78 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

give  it  him;  but  the  more  he  begged,  the  tighter  I 
clasped  it,  crying  and  saying  I  would  not  give  it  to 
any  one.  My  father,  who  was  also  in  the  house,  ran 
up  when  he  heard  my  screams,  and  in  his  stupefac- 
tion could  not  think  how  to  prevent  the  venomous 
animal  from  killing  me.  Just  then  his  eyes  chanced  to 
fall  upon  a  pair  of  scissors ;  and  so,  while  soothing  and 
caressing  me,  he  cut  its  tail  and  mouths  off.  After- 
wards, when  the  great  peril  had  been  thus  averted, 
he  took  the  occurrence  for  a  good  augury. 

When  I  was  about  five  years  old  my  father  hap- 
pened to  be  in  a  basement-chamber  of  our  house, 
where  they  had  been  washing,  and  where  a  good 
fire  of  oak-logs  was  still  burning ;  he  had  a  viol  in 
his  hand,  and  was  playing  and  singing  alone  beside 
the  fire.  The  weather  was  very  cold.  Happening  to 
look  into  the  fire,  he  spied  in  the  middle  of  those 
most  burning  flames  a  little  creature  like  a  lizard, 
which  was  sporting  in  the  core  of  the  intensest  coals. 
Becoming  instantly  aware  of  what  the  thing  was,  he 
had  my  sister  and  me  called,  and  pointing  it  out  to 
us  children,  gave  me  a  great  box  on  the  ears,  which 
caused  me  to  howl  and  weep  with  'all  my  might. 
Then  he  pacified  me  good-humouredly,  and  spoke 
as  follows :  "  My  dear  little  boy,  I  am  not  striking 
you  for  any  wrong  that  you  have  done,  but  only  to 
make  you  remember  that  that  lizard  which  you  see  in 
the  fire  is  a  salamander,  a  creature  which  has  never 
been  seen  before  by  any  one  of  whom  we  have  cre- 
dible information/'  So  saying,  he  kissed  me  and  gave 
me  some  pieces  of  money. 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 


My  father  began  teaching  me  to  play  upon  the  flute 
and  sing  by  note ;  but  notwithstanding  I  was  of  that 
tender  age  when  little  children  are  wont  to  take 
pastime  in  whistles  and  such  toys,  I  had  an  inex- 
pressible dislike  for  it,  and  played  and  sang  only  to 
obey  him.  My  father  in  those  times  fashioned  won- 
derful organs  with  pipes  of  wood,  spinets  the  fairest 
and  most  excellent  which  then  could  be  seen,  viols 
and  lutes  and  harps  of  the  most  beautiful  and  per- 
fect construction.  He  was  an  engineer,  and  had 
marvellous  skill  in  making  instruments  for  lowering 
bridges  and  for  working  mills,  and  other  machines 
of  that  sort.  In  ivory  he  was  the  first  who  wrought 
really  well.  But  after  he  had  fallen  in  love  with  the 
woman  who  was  destined  to  become  my  mother — 
perhaps  what  brought  them  together  was  that  little 
flute,  to  which  indeed  he  paid  more  attention  than 
was  proper — he  was  entreated  by  the  fifers  of  the 
Signory  to  play  in  their  company.  Accordingly  he' 
did  so  for  some  time  to  amuse  himself,  until  by 
constant  importunity  they  induced  him  to  become  a 
member  of  their  band.  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  and 
Piero  his  son,  who  had  a  great  liking  for  him,  per- 
ceived later  on  that  he  was  devoting  himself  wholly 
to  the  fife,  and  was  neglecting  his  fine  engineering 
talent  and  his  beautiful  art.1  So  they  had  him  re- 
moved from  that  post.  My  father  took  this  very  ill, 

1  The  Medici  here  mentioned  'were  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  and  his  son  Pietro, 
'who  <was  expelled  from  Florence  in  the  year  1494.  He  never  returned,  but  died  in 
the  river  Garigliano  in  1 504. 


LORENZO     DC    MEDICI 

CALLED    THE     MAGNIFICENT 

( VASARI  ) 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

and  it  seemed  to  him  that  they  had  done  him  a  great 
despite.  Yet  he  immediately  resumed  his  art,  and 
fashioned  a  mirror,  about  a  cubit  in  diameter,  out  of 
bone  and  ivory,  with  figures  and  foliage  of  great 
finish  and  grand  design.  The  mirror  was  in  the 
form  of  a  wheel.  In  the  middle  was  the  looking- 
glass;  around  it  were  seven  circular  pieces,  on 
which  were  the  Seven  Virtues,  carved  and  joined  of 
ivory  and  black  bone.  The  whole  mirror,  together 
with  the  Virtues,  was  placed  in  equilibrium,  so  that 
when  the  wheel  turned,  all  the  Virtues  moved, 
and  they  had  weights  at  their  feet  which  kept  them 
upright.  Possessing  some  acquaintance  with  the  La- 
tin tongue,  he  put  a  legend  in  Latin  round  his  looking- 
glass,  to  this  efFe6l :  "  Whithersoever  the  wheel  of 
Fortune  turns,  Virtue  stands  firm  upon  her  feet:" 

Rota  sum:  semper,  quoquo  me  verto,  stat  Virtus. 

A  little  while  after  this  he  obtained  his  place  again 
among  the  fifers.  Although  some  of  these  things 
happened  before  I  was  born,  my  familiarity  with 
them  has  moved  me  to  set  them  down  here.  In  those 
days  the  musicians  of  the  Signory  were  all  of  them 
members  of  the  most  honourable  trades,  and  some 
of  them  belonged  to  the  greater  guilds  of  silk  and 
wool;1  and  that  was  the  reason  why  my  father  did 
not  disdain  to  follow  this  profession,  and  his  chief 
desire  with  regard  to  me  was  always  that  I  should 
become  a  great  performer  on  the  flute.  I  for  my 

1  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  burghers  of  Florence  'were  divided  into  industrial  guilds 
called  the  Greater  and  the  Lesser  Arts.  'The  former  took  precedence  of  the  latter, 
both  in  political  importance  and  in  social  esteem. 

c  si  n 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

part  felt  never  more  discontented  than  when  he 
chose  to  talk  to  me  about  this  scheme,  and  to  tell 
me  that,  if  I  liked,  he  discerned  in  me  such  aptitudes 
that  I  might  become  the  best  man  in  the  world. 

VI 

As  I  have  said,  my  father  was  the  devoted  servant 
and  attached  friend  of  the  house  of  Medici;  and 
when  Piero  was  banished,  he  entrusted  him  with 
many  affairs  of  the  greatest  possible  importance. 
Afterwards,  when  the  magnificent  Piero  Soderini 
was  elected,  and  my  father  continued  in  his  office 
of  musician,  Soderini,  perceiving  his  wonderful  tal- 
ent, began  to  employ  him  in  many  matters  of  great 
importance  as  an  engineer.1  So  long  as  Soderini  re- 
mained in  Florence,  he  showed  the  utmost  good- 
will to  my  father;  and  in  those  days,  I  being  still  of 
tender  age,  my  father  had  me  carried,  and  made 
me  perform  upon  the  flute;  I  used  to  play  treble  in 
concert  with  the  musicians  of  the  palace  before  the 
Signory,  following  my  notes:  and  a  beadle  used  to 
carry  me  upon  his  shoulders.  The  Gonfalonier,  that 
is,  Soderini,  whom  I  have  already  mentioned,  took 
much  pleasure  in  making  me  chatter,  and  gave  me 
comfits,  and  was  wont  to  say  to  my  father:  "  Maes- 
tro Giovanni,  beside  music,  teach  the  boy  those  other 
arts  which  do  you  so  much  honour."  To  which  my 
father  answered:  "  I  do  not  wish  him  to  practise  any 
art  but  playing  and  composing ;  for  in  this  profession 

1  Piero  Soderini  <was  ele3ed  Gonfalonier  of  the  Florentine  Republic  for  life  in  the 
year  1502.  After  nine  years  of  government ,  he  ivas  banished,  and  when  he  died, 
Machiarvelli  'wrote  the  famous  sneering  epitaph  upon  him.  See  Renaissance  in 
Italy,  vol.  i.  p.  297. 

C  82  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

I  hope  to  make  him  the  greatest  man  of  the  world, 
if  God  prolongs  his  life."  To  these  words  one  of 
the  old  counsellors  made  answer:  "Ah!  Maestro 
Giovanni,  do  what  the  Gonfalonier  tells  you!  for 
why  should  he  never  become  anything  more  than  a 
good  musician  ? " 

Thus  some  time  passed,  until  the  Medici  returned.1 
When  they  arrived,  the  Cardinal,  who  afterwards 
became  Pope  Leo,  received  my  father  very  kindly. 
During  their  exile  the  scutcheons  which  were  on  the 
palace  of  the  Medici  had  had  their  balls  erased,  and 
a  great  red  cross  painted  over  them,  which  was  the 
bearing  of  the  Commune.*  Accordingly,  as  soon  as 
they  returned,  the  red  cross  was  scratched  out,  and 
on  the  scutcheon  the  red  balls  and  the  golden  field 
were  painted  in  again, and  finished  with  great  beauty. 
My  father,  who  possessed  a  simple  vein  of  poetry, 
instilled  in  him  by  nature,  together  with  a  certain 
touch  of  prophecy,  which  was  doubtless  a  divine  gift 
in  him,  wrote  these  four  verses  under  the  said  arms 
of  the  Medici,  when  they  were  uncovered  to  the 
view: 

'These  arniSy  which  have  so  long  from  sight  been  laid 
Beneath  the  holy  cross,  that  symbol  meek. 
Now  lift  their  glorious  glad  face,  and  seek 

With  Peter's  sacred  cloak  to  be  arrayed. 

This  epigram  was, read  by  all  Florence.  A  few  days 
afterwards  Pope  Julius  II.  died.  The  Cardinal  de' 

1  This  'was  in  151 2,  luhen  Lorenzo's  two  sons,  Giuliano  and  Giovanni  (afterwards 
Pope  Leo  X.)t  came  back  through  the  aid  of  a  Spanish  army,  after  the  great  battle 
at  Ravenna. 

*  The  Medicean  arms  'were  "  or,  six  pellets  gules,  three,  t<wo,  and  one."  The  Floren- 
tine Commune  bore,  "argent  a  cross  gules" 

[83  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Medici  went  to  Rome,  and  was  elected  Pope  against 
the  expectation  of  everybody.  He  reigned  as  Leo  X., 
that  generous  and  great  soul.  My  father  sent  him  his 
four  prophetic  verses.  The  Pope  sent  to  tell  him  to 
come  to  Rome;  for  this  would  be  to  his  advantage. 
But  he  had  no  will  to  go;  and  so,  in  lieu  of  reward, 
his  place  in  the  palace  was  taken  from  him  by  Jacopo 
Salviati,  upon  that  man's  election  as  Gonfalonier.1 
This  was  the  reason  why  I  commenced  goldsmith; 
after  which  I  spent  part  of  my  time  in  learning  that 
art,  and  part  in  playing,  much  against  my  will. 

VII 

When  my  father  spoke  to  me  in  the  way  I  have 
above  described,  I  entreated  him  to  let  me  draw  a 
certain  fixed  number  of  hours  in  the  day ;  all  the  rest 
of  my  time  I  would  give  to  music,  only  with  the  view 
of  satisfying  his  desire.  Upon  this  he  said  to  me:  "So 
then,  you  take  no  pleasure  in  playing?"  To  which 
I  answered,  "No;"  because  that  art  seemed  too  base 
in  comparison  with  what  I  had  in  my  own  mind.  My 
good  father,  driven  to  despair  by  this  fixed  idea  of 
mine,  placed  me  in  the  work  shop  of  Cavaliere  Bandi- 
nello's  father,  who  was  called  Michel  Agnolo,  a  gold- 
smith from  Pinzi  di  Monte,  and  a  master  excellent 
in  that  craft.2  He  had  no  distinction  of  birth  what- 
ever, but  was  the  son  of  a  charcoal-seller.  This  is  no 

1  Cellini  makes  a  mistake  here.  Salviati  married  a  daughter  of  Lorenzo  de*  Medici, 
and  obtained  great  influence  in  Florence ;  but  <we  have  no  record  of  his  appoint- 
ment to  the  office  of  Gonfalonier. 

*  Baccio  Bandinello,  the  sculptor,  and  a  great  rival  of  Cellini 's,  as  will  appear  in 
the  ensuing  pages,  ivas  born  in  1487,  and  received  the  honour  of  knighthood  from 
Clement  Vll.  and  Charles  V.  Posterity  has  confirmed  Cellini  s  opinion  of  Bandinello 

84 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

blame  to  Bandinello,  who  has  founded  the  honour  of 
the  family — if  only  he  had  done  so  honestly!  How- 
ever that  may  be,  I  have  no  cause  now  to  talk  about 
him.  After  I  had  stayed  there  some  days,  my  father 
took  me  away  from  Michel  Agnolo,  finding  himself 
unable  to  live  without  having  me  always  under  his 
eyes.  Accordingly,  much  to  my  discontent,  I  remained 
at  music  till  I  reached  the  age  of  fifteen.  If  I  were  to 
describe  all  the  wonderful  things  that  happened  to 
me  up  to  that  time,  and  all  the  great  dangers  to  my 
own  life  which  I  ran,  I  should  astound  my  readers; 
but, in  order  to  avoid  prolixity, and  having  very  much 
to  relate,  I  will  omit  these  incidents. 

When  I  reached  the  age  of  fifteen,  I  put  myself, 
against  my  father's  will,  to  the  goldsmith's  trade  with 
a  man  called  Antonio,  son  of  Sandro,  known  com- 
monly as  Marcone  the  goldsmith.  He  was  a  most 
excellent  craftsman  and  a  very  good  fellow  to  boot, 
high-spirited  and  frank  in  all  his  ways.  My  father 
would  not  let  him  give  me  wages  like  the  other  ap- 
prentices ;  for  having  taken  up  the  study  of  this  art 
to  please  myself,  he  wished  me  to  indulge  my  whim 
for  drawing  to  the  full.  I  did  so  willingly  enough; 
and  that  honest  master  of  mine  took  marvellous  de- 
light in  my  performances.  He  had  an  only  son,  a 
bastard,  to  whom  he  often  gave  his  orders,  in  order 
to  spare  me.  My  liking  for  the  art  was  so  great,  or, 
I  may  truly  say,  my  natural  bias,  both  one  and  the 
other,  that  in  a  few  months  I  caught  up  the  good, 
nay,  the  best  young  craftsmen  in  our  business,  and 

as  an  artist ;  for  his  'works  are  coarse,  pretentious,  and  incapable  of  giving  pleasure 
to  any  person  of  refined  intelligence. 

L  85 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

began  to  reap  the  fruits  of  my  labours.  I  did  not,  how- 
ever, negle6t  to  gratify  my  good  father  from  time  to 
time  by  playing  on  the  flute  or  cornet.  Each  time  he 
heard  me,  I  used  to  make  his  tears  fall  accompanied 
with  deep-drawn  sighs  of  satisfaction.  My  filial  piety 
often  made  me  give  him  that  contentment,  and  in- 
duced me  to  pretend  that  I  enjoyed  the  music  too. 

VIII 

At  that  time  I  had  a  brother,  younger  by  two  years, 
a  youth  of  extreme  boldness  and  fierce  temper.  He 
afterwards  became  one  of  the  great  soldiers  in  the 
school  of  that  marvellous  general  Giovannino  de' 
Medici,  father  of  Duke  Cosimo.1  The  boy  was  about 
fourteen,  and  I  two  years  older.  One  Sunday  evening, 
just  before  nightfall,  he  happened  to  find  himself  be- 
tween the  gate  San  Gallo  and  the  Porta  a  Pinti;  in 
this  quarter  he  came  to  duel  with  a  young  fellow  of 
twenty  or  thereabouts.  They  both  had  swords;  and 
my  brother  dealt  so  valiantly  that,  after  having  badly 
wounded  him,  he  was  upon  the  point  of  following 
up  his  advantage.  There  was  a  great  crowd  of  people 
present,  among  whom  were  many  of  the  adversary's 
kinsfolk.  Seeing  that  the  thing  was  going  ill  for  their 
own  man,  they  put  hand  to  their  slings,  a  stone  from 
one  of  which  hit  my  poor  brother  in  the  head.  He 
fell  to  the  ground  at  once  in  a  dead  faint.  It  so  chanced 
that  I  had  been  upon  the  spot  alone,  and  without 


1  Cellini  refers  to  the  famous  Giovanni  dette  Bande  Nere,  <who  fwas  killed  in  an  en- 
gagement in  Lombardy  in  November  1526  by  the  Imperialist  troops  marching  to 
the  sack  of  Rome.  His  son  Cosimo,  after  the  murder  of  Duke  Alessandroy  established 
the  second  Medicean  dynasty  in  Florence. 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

arms;  and  I  had  done  my  best  to  get  my  brother 
out  of  the  fray  by  calling  to  him:  "Make  off;  you 
have  done  enough."  Meanwhile,  as  luck  would  have 
it,  he  fell,  as  I  have  said,  half  dead  to  earth.  I  ran  up 
at  once,  seized  his  sword,  and  stood  in  front  of  him, 
bearing  the  brunt  of  several  rapiers  and  a  shower  of 
stones.  I  never  left  his  side  until  some  brave  soldiers 
came  from  the  gate  San  Gallo  and  rescued  me  from 
the  raging  crowd ;  they  marvelled  much,  the  while, 
to  find  such  valour  in  so  young  a  boy. 

Then  I  carried  my  brother  home  for  dead,  and  it 
was  only  with  great  difficulty  that  he  came  to  him- 
self again.  When  he  was  cured,  the  Eight,  who  had 
already  condemned  our  adversaries  and  banished 
them  for  a  term  of  years,  sent  us  also  into  exile  for 
six  months  at  a  distance  often  miles  from  Florence.1 
I  said  to  my  brother : "  Come  along  with  me ; "  and  so 
we  took  leave  of  our  poor  father ;  and  instead  of  giv- 
ing us  money,  for  he  had  none,  he  bestowed  on  us 
his  blessing.  I  went  to  Siena,  wishing  to  look  up  a  cer- 
tain worthy  man  called  Maestro  Francesco  Castoro. 
On  another  occasion,  when  I  had  run  away  from  my 
father,  I  went  to  this  good  man,  and  stayed  some  time 
with  him,  working  at  the  goldsmith's  trade  until  my 
father  sent  for  me  back.  Francesco,  when  I  reached 
him,  recognised  me  at  once,  and  gave  me  work  to 
do.  While  thus  occupied,  he  placed  a  house  at  my 
disposal  for  the  whole  time  of  my  sojourn  in  Siena. 
Into  this  I  moved,  together  with  my  brother,  and  ap- 
plied myself  to  labour  for  the  space  of  several  months. 

*  The  Eight,  or  Gli  Otto,  'were  a  magistracy  in  Florence  <with  cognisance  of  matters 
affecting  the  internal  peace  of  the  city. 

I  87  j 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

My  brother  had  acquired  the  rudiments  of  Latin,  but 
was  still  so  young  that  he  could  not  yet  relish  the 
taste  of  virtuous  employment,  but  passed  his  time  in 
dissipation. 

IX 

The  Cardinal  de'  Medici,  who  afterwards  became 
Pope  Clement  VII.,  had  us  recalled  to  Florence  at 
the  entreaty  of  my  father.1  A  certain  pupil  of  my 
father's,  moved  by  his  own  bad  nature,  suggested  to 
the  Cardinal  that  he  ought  to  send  me  to  Bologna, 
in  order  to  learn  to  play  well  from  a  great  master 
there.  The  name  of  this  master  was  Antonio,  and 
he  was  in  truth  a  worthy  man  in  the  musician's  art. 
The  Cardinal  said  to  my  father  that,  if  he  sent  me 
there,  he  would  give  me  letters  of  recommendation 
and  support.  My  father,  dying  with  joy  at  such  an 
opportunity,  sent  me  off;  and  I  being  eager  to  see 
the  world,  went  with  good  grace. 

When  I  reached  Bologna,  I  put  myself  under  a 
certain  Maestro  Ercole  del  Piffero,  and  began  to 
earn  something  by  my  trade.  In  the  meantime  I 
used  to  go  every  day  to  take  my  music-lesson,  and 
in  a  few  weeks  made  considerable  progress  in  that 
accursed  art.  However,  I  made  still  greater  in  my 
trade  of  goldsmith ;  for  the  Cardinal  having  given 
me  no  assistance,  I  went  to  live  with  a  Bolognese 

1  This  Cardinal  and  Pope  ewas  Giulio,  a  natural  son  of  Giuliano,  Lorenxa  di  Me- 
dici s  brother,  <iuho  had  been  killed  in  the  Pazzi  conspiracy, year  1478.  Giulio  limed 
to  become  Pope  Clement  PH.,  to  suffer  the  sack  of  Rome  in  1527,  and  to  make  the 
concordat  'with  Charles  V.  at  Bologna  in  1529-30,  iuhich  settled  for  three  centu- 
ries the  destiny  of  Italy.  We  shall  hear  much  more  of  him  from  Cellini  in  the  course 
of  this  narrative. 

[88  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

illuminator  who  was  called  Scipione  Cavalletti  (his 
house  was  in  the  street  of  our  Lady  del  Baraccan); 
and  while  there  I  devoted  myself  to  drawing  and 
working  for  one  Graziadio,  a  Jew,  with  whom  I 
earned  considerably. 

At  the  end  of  six  months  I  returned  to  Florence, 
where  that  fellow  Pierino,  who  had  been  my  fa- 
ther's pupil,  was  greatly  mortified  by  my  return. 
To  please  my  father,  I  went  to  his  house  and  played 
the  cornet  and  the  flute  with  one  of  his  brothers, 
who  was  named  Girolamo,  several  years  younger 
than  the  said  Piero,  a  very  worthy  young  man,  and 
quite  the  contrary  of  his  brother.  On  one  of  those 
days  my  father  came  to  Piero 's  house  to  hear  us 
play,  and  in  ecstasy  at  my  performance  exclaimed: 
"  I  shall  yet  make  you  a  marvellous  musician  against 
the  will  of  all  or  any  one  who  may  desire  to  prevent 
me."  To  this  Piero  answered,  and  spoke  the  truth: 
"  Your  Benvenuto  will  get  much  more  honour  and 
profit  if  he  devotes  himself  to  the  goldsmith's  trade 
than  to  this  piping/'  These  words  made  my  father 
so  angry,  seeing  that  I  too  had  the  same  opinion  as 
Piero,  that  he  flew  into  a  rage  and  cried  out  at  him: 
"  Well  did  I  know  that  it  was  you,  you  who  put 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  my  cherished  wish ;  you  are 
the  man  who  had  me  ousted  from  my  place  at  the 
palace,  paying  me  back  with  that  black  ingratitude 
which  is  the  usual  recompense  of  great  benefits.  I 
got  you  promoted,  and  you  have  got  me  cashiered; 
I  taught  you  to  play  with  all  the  little  art  you  have, 
and  you  are  preventing  my  son  from  obeying  me ; 
but  bear  in  mind  these  words  of  prophecy :  not  years 

r  89  D 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

or  months,  I  say,  but  only  a  few  weeks  will  pass 
before  this  dirty  ingratitude  of  yours  shall  plunge 
you  into  ruin."  To  these  words  answered  Pierino 
and  said:  "Maestro  Giovanni,  the  majority  of  men, 
when  they  grow  old,  go  mad  at  the  same  time;  and 
this  has  happened  to  you.  I  am  not  astonished  at 
it,  because  most  liberally  have  you  squandered  all 
your  property,  without  reflecting  that  your  children 
had  need  of  it.  I  mind  to  do  just  the  opposite,  and 
to  leave  my  children  so  much  that  they  shall  be 
able  to  succour  yours."  To  this  my  father  answered : 
"No  bad  tree  ever  bore  good  fruit;  quite  the  con- 
trary; and  I  tell  you  further  that  you  are  bad,  and 
that  your  children  will  be  mad  and  paupers,  and 
will  cringe  for  alms  to  my  virtuous  and  wealthy 
sons."  Thereupon  we  left  the  house,  muttering 
words  of  anger  on  both  sides.  I  had  taken  my 
father's  part;  and  when  we  stepped  into  the  street 
together,  I  told  him  I  was  quite  ready  to  take  ven- 
geance for  the  insults  heaped  on  him  by  that  scoun- 
drel, provided  you  permit  me  to  give  myself  up  to 
the  art  of  design.  He  answered:  "My  dear  son,  I 
too  in  my  time  was  a  good  draughtsman ;  but  for 
recreation,  after  such  stupendous  labours,  and  for 
the  love  of  me  who  am  your  father,  who  begat  you 
and  brought  you  up  and  implanted  so  many  hon- 
ourable talents  in  you,  for  the  sake  of  recreation, 
I  say,  will  not  you  promise  sometimes  to  take  in 
hand  your  flute  and  that  sedu6live  cornet,  and  to 
play  upon  them  to  your  heart's  content,  inviting  the 
delight  of  music?"  I  promised  I  would  do  so,  and 
very  willingly  for  his  love's  sake.  Then  my  good 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

father  said  that  such  excellent  parts  as  I  possessed 
would  be  the  greatest  vengeance  I  could  take  for 
the  insults  of  his  enemies. 

Not  a  whole  month  had  been  completed  after  this 
scene  before  the  man  Pierino  happened  to  be  build- 
ing a  vault  in  a  house  of  his,  which  he  had  in  the 
Via  dello  Studio;  and  being  one  day  in  a  ground- 
floor  room  above  the  vault  which  he  was  making, 
together  with  much  company  around  him,  he  fell 
to  talking  about  his  old  master,  my  father.  While 
repeating  the  words  which  he  had  said  to  him  con- 
cerning his  ruin,  no  sooner  had  they  escaped  his  lips 
than  the  floor  where  he  was  standing  ( either  because 
the  vault  had  been  badly  built,  or  rather  through  the 
sheer  mightiness  of  God,  who  does  not  always  pay 
on  Saturday )  suddenly  gave  way.  Some  of  the  stones 
and  bricks  of  the  vault,  which  fell  with  him,  broke 
both  his  legs.  The  friends  who  were  with  him,  re- 
maining on  the  border  of  the  broken  vault,  took  no 
harm,  but  were  astounded  and  full  of  wonder,  espe- 
cially because  of  the  prophecy  which  he  had  just 
contemptuously  repeated  to  them.  When  my  father 
heard  of  this,  he  took  his  sword,  and  went  to  see  the 
man.  There,  in  the  presence  of  his  father,  who  was 
called  Niccolaio  da  Volterra,  a  trumpeter  of  the  Si- 
gnory ,  he  said :  "  O  Piero,  my  dear  pupil,  I  am  sorely 
grieved  at  your  mischance ;  but  if  you  remember,  it 
was  only  a  short  time  ago  that  I  warned  you  of  it; 
and  as  much  as  I  then  said  will  come  to  happen  be- 
tween your  children  and  mine."  Shortly  afterwards, 
the  ungrateful  Piero  died  of  that  illness.  He  left  a 
wife  of  bad  character  and  one  son,  who  after  the 

C  9'  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

lapse  of  some  years  came  to  me  to  beg  for  alms  in 
Rome.  I  gave  him  something,  as  well  because  it  is 
my  nature  to  be  charitable,  as  also  because  I  recalled 
with  tears  the  happy  state  which  Pierino  held  when 
my  father  spake  those  words  of  prophecy,  namely, 
that  Pierino's  children  should  live  to  crave  succour 
from  his  own  virtuous  sons.  Of  this  perhaps  enough 
is  now  said ;  but  let  none  ever  laugh  at  the  prognos- 
tications of  any  worthy  man  whom  he  has  wrong- 
fully insulted ;  because  it  is  not  he  who  speaks,  nay, 
but  the  very  voice  of  God  through  him. 


All  this  while  I  worked  as  a  goldsmith,  and  was  able 
to  assist  my  good  father.  His  other  son,  my  brother 
Cecchino,  had,  as  I  said  before,  been  instructed  in 
the  rudiments  of  Latin  letters.  It  was  our  father's 
wish  to  make  me,  the  elder,  a  great  musician  and 
composer,  and  him,  the  younger,  a  great  and  learned 
jurist.  He  could  not,  however,  put  force  upon  the 
inclinations  of  our  nature,  which  directed  me  to  the 
arts  of  design,  and  my  brother,  who  had  a  fine  and 
graceful  person,  to  the  profession  of  arms.  Cecchino, 
being  still  quite  a  lad,  was  returning  from  his  first 
lesson  in  the  school  of  the  stupendous  Giovannino 
de'  Medici.  On  the  day  when  he  reached  home,  I 
happened  to  be  absent;  and  he,  being  in  want  of 
proper  clothes,  sought  out  our  sisters,  who,  unknown 
to  my  father,  gave  him  a  cloak  and  doublet  of  mine, 
both  new  and  of  good  quality.  I  ought  to  say  that, 
beside  the  aid  I  gave  my  father  and  my  excellent 
and  honest  sisters,  I  had  bought  those  handsome 

C  92  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

clothes  out  of  my  own  savings.  When  I  found  I  had 
been  cheated,  and  my  clothes  taken  from  me,  and 
my  brother  from  whom  I  should  have  recovered  them 
was  gone,  I  asked  my  father  why  he  suffered  so  great 
a  wrong  to  be  done  me,  seeing  that  I  was  always 
ready  to  assist  him.  He  replied  that  I  was  his  good 
son,  but  that  the  other,  whom  he  thought  to  have 
lost,  had  been  found  again ;  also  that  it  was  a  duty, 
nay,  a  precept  from  God  Himself,  that  he  who  hath 
should  give  to  him  who  hath  not;  and  that  for  his 
sake  I  ought  to  bear  this  injustice,  for  God  would  in- 
crease me  in  all  good  things.  I,  like  a  youth  without 
experience,  retorted  on  my  poor  afflicled  parent;  and 
taking  the  miserable  remnants  of  my  clothes  and 
money,  went  toward  a  gate  of  the  city.  As  I  did  not 
know  which  gate  would  start  me  on  the  road  to 
Rome,  I  arrived  at  Lucca,  and  from  Lucca  reached 
Pisa. 

When  I  came  to  Pisa  (I  was  about  sixteen  years 
of  age  at  the  time ) ,  I  stopped  near  the  middle  bridge, 
by  what  is  called  the  Fish-stone,  at  the  shop  of  a 
goldsmith,  and  began  attentively  to  watch  what  the 
master  was  about.1  He  asked  me  who  I  was,  and 
what  was  my  profession.  I  told  him  that  I  worked  a 
little  in  the  same  trade  as  his  own.  This  worthy  man 
bade  me  come  into  his  shop,  and  at  once  gave  me 
work  to  do,  and  spoke  as  follows:  "Your  good  ap- 
pearance makes  me  believe  you  are  a  decent  honest 
youth."  Then  he  told  me  out  gold,  silver,  and  gems; 
and  when  the  first  day's  work  was  finished,  he  took 

1  The  fish-stone,  or  Pietra  del  Pesce,  nvas  the  market  on  the  quay  where  the  fish 
brought  from  the  sea  up  the  Arno  to  Pisa  used  to  be  sold, 

[  93  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

me  in  the  evening  to  his  house,  where  he  dwelt 
respe6lably  with  his  handsome  wife  and  children. 
Thinking  of  the  grief  which  my  good  father  might 
be  feeling  for  me,  I  wrote  him  that  I  was  sojourning 
with  a  very  excellent  and  honest  man,  called  Maestro 
Ulivieri  della  Chiostra,  and  was  working  with  him 
at  many  things  of  beauty  and  importance.  I  bade  him 
be  of  good  cheer,  for  that  I  was  bent  on  learning, 
and  hoped  by  my  acquirements  to  bring  him  back 
both  profit  and  honour  before  long.  My  good  father 
answered  the  letter  at  once  in  words  like  these : "  My 
son,  the  love  I  bear  you  is  so  great,  that  if  it  were 
not  for  the  honour  of  our  family,  which  above  all 
things  I  regard,  I  should  immediately  have  set  off 
for  you ;  for  indeed  it  seems  like  being  without  the 
light  of  my  eyes,  when  I  do  not  see  you  daily,  as  I 
used  to  do.  I  will  make  it  my  business  to  complete 
the  training  of  my  household  up  to  virtuous  honesty ; 
do  you  make  it  yours  to  acquire  excellence  in  your 
art;  and  I  only  wish  you  to  remember  these  four 
simple  words,  obey  them,  and  never  let  them  escape 
your  memory : 

In  whatever  house  you  be, 
Steal  not,  and  live  honestly" 

XI 

This  letter  fell  into  the  hands  of  my  master  Ulivieri, 
and  he  read  it  unknown  to  me.  Afterwards  he  avowed 
that  he  had  read  it,  and  added:  "So  then,  my  Ben- 
venuto,  your  good  looks  did  not  deceive  me,  as  a 
letter  from  your  father  which  has  come  into  my  hands 
gives  me  assurance,  which  proves  him  to  be  a  man 

C  94  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

of  notable  honesty  and  worth.  Consider  yourself  then 
to  be  at  home  here,  and  as  though  in  your  own  fa- 
ther's house." 

While  I  stayed  at  Pisa,  I  went  to  see  the  Campo 
Santo,  and  there  I  found  many  beautiful  fragments 
of  antiquity,  that  is  to  say,  marble  sarcophagi.  In 
other  parts  of  Pisa  also  I  saw  many  antique  objecls, 
which  I  diligently  studied  whenever  I  had  days  or 
hours  free  from  the  labour  of  the  workshop.  My 
master,  who  took  pleasure  in  coming  to  visit  me  in 
the  little  room  which  he  had  allotted  me,  observing 
that  I  spent  all  my  time  in  studious  occupations,  be- 
gan to  love  me  like  a  father.  I  made  great  progress 
in  the  one  year  that  I  stayed  there,  and  completed 
several  fine  and  valuable  things  in  gold  and  silver, 
which  inspired  me  with  a  resolute  ambition  to  ad- 
vance in  my  art. 

My  father,  in  the  meanwhile,  kept  writing  piteous 
entreaties  that  I  should  return  to  him ;  and  in  every 
letter  bade  me  not  to  lose  the  music  he  had  taught 
me  with  such  trouble.  On  this,  I  suddenly  gave  up 
all  wish  to  go  back  to  him ;  so  much  did  I  hate  that 
accursed  music;  and  I  felt  as  though  of  a  truth  I 
were  in  paradise  the  whole  year  I  stayed  at  Pisa, 
where  I  never  played  the  flute. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  my  master  Ulivieri  had  oc- 
casion to  go  to  Florence,  in  order  to  sell  certain  gold 
and  silver  sweepings  which  he  had;1  and  inasmuch 
as  the  bad  air  of  Pisa  had  given  me  a  touch  of  fever, 
I  went  with  the  fever  hanging  still  about  me,  in  my 

*/  have  translated  spaxzature  by  sweepings.  It  means  all  refuse  of  the  precious 
metals  left  in  the  goldsmith's  trays. 

I  95  1 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

master's  company,  back  to  Florence.  There  my  father 
received  him  most  affectionately,  and  lovingly  prayed 
him,  unknown  by  me,  not  to  insist  on  taking  me  again 
to  Pisa.  I  was  ill  about  two  months,  during  which 
time  my  father  had  me  most  kindly  treated  and  cured , 
always  repeating  that  it  seemed  to  him  a  thousand 
years  till  I  got  well  again,  in  order  that  he  might 
hear  me  play  a  little.  But  when  he  talked  to  me  of 
music,  with  his  fingers  on  my  pulse,  seeing  he  had 
some  acquaintance  with  medicine  and  Latin  learning, 
he  felt  it  change  so  much  if  he  approached  that  topic, 
that  he  was  often  dismayed  and  left  my  side  in  tears. 
When  I  perceived  how  greatly  he  was  disappointed, 
I  bade  one  of  my  sisters  bring  me  a  flute;  for  though 
the  fever  never  left  me,  that  instrument  is  so  easy  that 
it  did  not  hurt  me  to  play  upon  it ;  and  I  used  it  with 
such  dexterity  of  hand  and  tongue  that  my  father, 
coming  suddenly  upon  me,  blessed  me  a  thousand 
times,  exclaiming  that  while  I  was  away  from  him 
I  had  made  great  progress,  as  he  thought;  and  he 
begged  me  to  go  forwards,  and  not  to  sacrifice  so 
fine  an  accomplishment. 

XII 

When  I  had  recovered  my  health,  I  returned  to  my 
old  friend  Marcone,  the  worthy  goldsmith,  who  put 
me  in  the  way  of  earning  money,  with  which  I  helped 
my  father  and  our  household.  About  that  time  there 
came  to  Florence  a  sculptor  named  PieroTorrigiani ;' 
he  arrived  from  England,  where  he  had  resided  many 
years ;  and  being  intimate  with  my  master,  he  daily 

1  Torrigiani  'worked  in  fail  for  Henry  Fill.,  and  his  monument  to  Henry  PH.  still 

C  96] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

visited  his  house ;  and  when  he  saw  my  drawings  and 
the  things  which  I  was  making,  he  said:  "I  have 
come  to  Florence  to  enlist  as  many  young  men  as  I 
can ;  for  I  have  undertaken  to  execute  a  great  work 
for  my  king,  and  want  some  of  my  own  Florentines 
to  help  me.  Now  your  method  of  working  and  your 
designs  are  worthy  rather  of  a  sculptor  than  a  gold- 
smith; and  since  I  have  to  turn  out  a  great  piece  of 
bronze,  I  will  at  the  same  time  turn  you  into  a  rich 
and  able  artist."  This  man  had  a  splendid  person  and 
a  most  arrogant  spirit,  with  the  air  of  a  great  soldier 
more  than  of  a  sculptor,  especially  in  regard  to  his 
vehement  gestures  and  his  resonant  voice,  together 
with  a  habit  he  had  of  knitting  his  brows,  enough  to 
frighten  any  man  of  courage.  He  kept  talking  every 
day  about  his  gallant  feats  among  those  beasts  of 
Englishmen. 

In  course  of  conversation  he  happened  to  mention 
Michel  Agnolo  Buonarroti,  led  thereto  by  a  drawing 
I  had  made  from  a  cartoon  of  that  divinest  painter.1 
This  cartoon  was  the  first  masterpiece  which  Michel 
Agnolo  exhibited,  in  proof  of  his  stupendous  talents. 
He  produced  it  in  competition  with  another  painter, 
Lionardo  da  Vinci,  who  also  made  a  cartoon ;  and 
both  were  intended  for  the  council-hall  in  the  palace 

exists  in  the  Lady  Chapel  of  Westminster  Abbey,  from  England  he  'went  to  Spain, 
inhere  he  modelled  a  statue  of  the  Virgin  for  a  great  nobleman.  Not  receiving  the 
pay  he  expefled,  he  broke  his  work  to  pieces  j  for  'which  aft  of  sacrilege  the  Inqui- 
sition sent  him  to  prison ,  where  he  starved  himself  to  death  in  1522.  Such  at  least 
is  the  legend  of  his  end. 

1  The  cartoons  to  'which  Cellini  here  alludes  were  made  by  Michel  Angela  and  Lio- 
nardo for  the  decoration  of  the  Sala  del  Gran  Consiglio  in  the  Palazzo  Vecchio  at 
Florence.  Only  the  shadows  of  them  remain  to  this  day ;  a  part  of  Michel  Angela's, 
engraved  by  Schiavonetli,  and  a  transcript  by  Rubens  from  Lionardo 's,  called  the 
Battle  of  the  Standard. 

C  97  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

of  the  Signory.  They  represented  the  taking  of  Pisa 
by  the  Florentines ;  and  our  admirable  Lionardo  had 
chosen  to  depict  a  battle  of  horses,  with  the  capture 
of  some  standards,  in  as  divine  a  style  as  could  pos- 
sibly be  imagined.  Michel  Agnolo  in  his  cartoon  por- 
trayed a  number  of  foot-soldiers,  who,  the  season 
being  summer,  had  gone  to  bathe  in  Arno.  He  drew 
them  at  the  very  moment  the  alarm  is  sounded,  and 
the  men  all  naked  run  to  arms ;  so  splendid  in  their 
action  that  nothing  survives  of  ancient  or  of  modern 
art  which  touches  the  same  lofty  point  of  excellence ; 
and  as  I  have  already  said,  the  design  of  the  great 
Lionardo  was  itself  most  admirably  beautiful.  These 
two  cartoons  stood,  one  in  the  palace  of  the  Medici, 
the  other  in  the  hall  of  the  Pope.  So  long  as  they 
remained  intact,  they  were  the  school  of  the  world. 
Though  the  divine  Michel  Agnolo  in  later  life  fin- 
ished that  great  chapel  of  Pope  Julius,1  he  never  rose 
half-way  to  the  same  pitch  of  power ;  his  genius  never 
afterwards  attained  to  the  force  of  those  first  studies. 

XIII 

Now  let  us  return  to  Piero  Torrigiani,  who,  with 
my  drawing  in  his  hand,  spoke  as  follows:  "This 
Buonarroti  and  I  used,  when  we  were  boys,  to  go 
into  the  Church  of  the  Carmine,  to  learn  drawing 
from  the  chapel  of  Masaccio."  It  was  Buonarroti's 
habit  to  banter  all  who  were  drawing  there ;  and  one 
day,  among  others,  when  he  was  annoying  me,  I 

1  The  Sistine  Chapel  in  the  Vatican. 

2  The  Chapel  of  the  Carmine,  painted  in  fresco  by  Masaccio  and  some  other  artist, 
poaibly  Filippino  Lippi,  is  still  the  most  important  monument  of  Florentine  art  sur- 
viving from  the  period  preceding  Raphael. 

C   98   1 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

got  more  angry  than  usual,  and  clenching  my  fist, 
gave  him  such  a  blow  on  the  nose,  that  I  felt  bone 
and  cartilage  go  down  like  biscuit  beneath  my  knuc- 
kles; and  this  mark  of  mine  he  will  carry  with  him 
to  the  grave/'1  These  words  begat  in  me  such  ha- 
tred of  the  man,  since  I  was  always  gazing  at  the 
masterpieces  of  the  divine  Michel  Agnolo,  that  al- 
though I  felt  a  wish  to  go  with  him  to  England,  I 
now  could  never  bear  the  sight  of  him. 

All  the  while  I  was  at  Florence,  I  studied  the  noble 
manner  of  Michel  Agnolo,  and  from  this  I  have  never 
deviated.  About  that  time  I  contracted  a  close  and 
familiar  friendship  with  an  amiable  lad  of  my  own 
age,  who  was  also  in  the  goldsmith's  trade.  He  was 
called  Francesco,  son  of  Filippo,  and  grandson  of 
Fra  LippoLippi,  that  most  excellent  painter.3  Through 
intercourse  together,  such  love  grew  up  between 
us  that,  day  or  night,  we  never  stayed  apart.  The 
house  where  he  lived  was  still  full  of  the  fine  stud- 
ies which  his  father  had  made,  bound  up  in  several 
books  of  drawings  by  his  hand,  and  taken  from  the 
best  antiquities  of  Rome.  The  sight  of  these  things 
filled  me  with  passionate  enthusiasm;  and  for  two 
years  or  thereabouts  we  lived  in  intimacy.  At  that  time 
I  fashioned  a  silver  bas-relief  of  the  size  of  a  little 


1  'The  profile  portraits  of  Michel  Angela  Buonarroti  confirm  this  story.  They  show  the 
bridge  of  his  nose  bent  in  an  angle,  as  though  it  had  been  broken. 
*  Fra  Filippo  Lippi  'was  a  Carmelite  monk,  whose  frescoes  at  Prato  and  Spoleto  and 
oil-paintings  in  Florence  and  elsewhere  are  among  the  most  genial  works  of  the  pre- 
Raphaelite  Renaissance.  Vasari  narrates  his  love-adventures  with  Lucrezia  Buti, 
and  Robert  Browning  has  drawn  a  clever  portrait  of  him  in  his  "  Men  and  Wo- 
men." His  son,  Filippo  or  Filippino,  was  also  an  able  painter,  some  of  'whose  best 
'work  survives  in  the  Strozzi  Chapel  of  S.  Maria  Novella  at  Florence,  and  in  the 
Church  of  S.  Maria  Sopra  Minerva  at  Rome. 

C99] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

child's  hand.  It  was  intended  for  the  clasp  to  a  man's 
belt;  for  they  were  then  worn  as  large  as  that.  I 
carved  on  it  a  knot  of  leaves  in  the  antique  style, 
with  figures  of  children  and  other  masks  of  great 
beauty.  This  piece  I  made  in  the  workshop  of  one 
Francesco  Salimbene;  and  on  its  being  exhibited  to 
the  trade,  the  gold  smiths  praised  me  as  the  best  young 
craftsman  of  their  art. 

There  was  oneGiovan  Battista,  surnamed  II  Tasso, 
a  wood-carver,  precisely  of  my  own  age,  who  one 
day  said  to  me  that  if  I  was  willing  to  go  to  Rome, 
he  should  be  glad  to  join  me.1  Now  we  had  this  con- 
versation together  immediately  after  dinner;  and  I 
being  angry  with  my  father  for  the  same  old  reason 
of  the  music,  said  to  Tasso:  "You  are  a  fellow  of 
words,  not  deeds/'  He  answered:  "I  too  have  come 
to  anger  with  my  mother ;  and  if  I  had  cash  enough 
to  take  me  to  Rome,  I  would  not  turn  back  to  lock  the 
door  of  that  wretched  little  workshop  I  call  mine." 
To  these  words  I  replied  that  if  that  was  all  that 
kept  him  in  Florence  I  had  money  enough  in  my 
pockets  to  bring  us  both  to  Rome.  Talking  thus  and 
walking  onwards,  we  found  ourselves  at  the  gate 
San  Piero  Gattolini  without  noticing  that  we  had  got 
there;  whereupon  I  said : "  Friend  Tasso,  this  is  God's 
doing  that  we  have  reached  this  gate  without  either 
you  or  me  noticing  that  we  were  there;  and  now 
that  I  am  here,  it  seems  to  me  that  I  have  finished 
half  the  journey."  And  so,  being  of  one  accord,  we 

1  Tasso  nuas  an  able  artist,  mentioned  both  by  Vasari  and  Pietro  Aretino.  He  stood 
high  in  the  favour  of  Duke  Cosimo  de"  Medici,  nvho  took  his  opinion  on  the  'work 
of  other  craftsmen. 

C  10°  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

pursued  our  way  together,  saying,  "  Oh,  what  will 
our  old  folks  say  this  evening?"  We  then  made  an 
agreement  not  to  think  more  about  them  till  we 
reached  Rome.  So  we  tied  our  aprons  behind  our 
backs,  and  trudged  almost  in  silence  to  Siena.  When 
we  arrived  at  Siena,  Tasso  said  (for  he  had  hurt  his 
feet )  that  he  would  not  go  farther,  and  asked  me  to 
lend  him  money  to  get  back.  I  made  answer:  "I 
should  not  have  enough  left  to  go  forward;  you  ought 
indeed  to  have  thought  of  this  on  leaving  Florence ; 
and  if  it  is  because  of  your  feet  that  you  shirk  the 
journey,  we  will  find  a  return  horse  for  Rome,  which 
will  deprive  you  of  the  excuse."  Accordingly  I  hired 
a  horse;  and  seeing  that  he  did  not  answer,  I  took 
my  way  toward  the  gate  of  Rome.  When  he  knew 
that  I  was  firmly  resolved  to  go,  muttering  between 
his  teeth,  and  limping  as  well  as  he  could,  he  came 
on  behind  me  very  slowly  and  at  a  great  distance. 
On  reaching  the  gate,  I  felt  pity  for  my  comrade, 
and  waited  for  him,  and  took  him  on  the  crupper, 
saying:  "What  would  our  friends  speak  of  us  to- 
morrow, if,  having  left  for  Rome,  we  had  not  pluck 
to  get  beyond  Siena  ? "  Then  the  good  Tasso  said  I 
spoke  the  truth ;  and  as  he  was  a  pleasant  fellow,  he 
began  to  laugh  and  sing;  and  in  this  way,  always 
singing  and  laughing,  we  travelled  the  whole  way 
to  Rome.  I  had  just  nineteen  years  then,  and  so  had 
the  century. 

When  we  reached  Rome,  I  put  myself  under  a 
master  who  was  known  as  II  Firenzuola.  His  name 
was  Giovanni,  and  he  came  from  Firenzuola  in  Lom- 
bardy,  a  most  able  craftsman  in  large  vases  and  big 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

plate  of  that  kind.  I  showed  him  part  of  the  model 
for  the  clasp  which  I  had  made  in  Florence  at  Salim- 
bene's.  It  pleased  him  exceedingly;  and  turning  to 
one  of  his  journeymen,  a  Florentine  called  Giannotto 
Giannotti,  who  had  been  several  years  with  him,  he 
spoke  as  follows:  "This  fellow  is  one  of  the  Floren- 
tines who  know  something,  and  you  are  one  of  those 
who  know  nothing."  Then  I  recognised  the  man, 
and  turned  to  speak  with  him ;  for  before  he  went 
to  Rome,  we  often  went  to  draw  together,  and  had 
been  very  intimate  comrades.  He  was  so  put  out  by 
the  words  his  master  flung  at  him,  that  he  said  he 
did  not  recognise  me  or  know  who  I  was ;  where- 
upon I  got  angry,  and  cried  out:  "  O  Giannotto, you 
who  were  once  my  friend — for  have  we  not  been 
together  in  such  and  such  places,  and  drawn,  and  ate, 
and  drunk,  and  slept  in  company  at  your  house  in 
the  country  ?  I  don't  want  you  to  bear  witness  on  my 
behalf  to  this  worthy  man,  your  master,  because  I 
hope  my  hands  are  such  that  without  aid  from  you 
they  will  declare  what  sort  of  a  fellow  I  am." 

XIV 

When  I  had  thus  spoken,  Firenzuola,  who  was  a  man 
of  hot  spirit  and  brave,  turned  to  Giannotto,  and  said 
to  him:  "You  vile  rascal,  aren't  you  ashamed  to 
treat  a  man  who  has  been  so  intimate  a  comrade  with 
you  in  this  way?"  And  with  the  same  movement  of 
quick  feeling,  he  faced  round  and  said  to  me:  "  Wel- 
come to  my  workshop ;  and  do  as  you  have  promised ; 
let  your  hands  declare  what  man  you  are." 
He  gave  me  a  very  fine  piece  of  silver  plate  to  work 

C  102  D 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

on  for  a  cardinal.  It  was  a  little  oblong  box,  copied 
from  the  porphyry  sarcophagus  before  the  door  of 
the  Rotonda.  Beside  what  I  copied,  I  enriched  it  with 
so  many  elegant  masks  of  my  invention,  that  my 
master  went  about  showing  it  through  the  art,  and 
boasting  that  so  good  a  piece  of  work  had  been  turned 
out  from  his  shop.1  It  was  about  half  a  cubit  in  size, 
and  was  so  constructed  as  to  serve  for  a  salt-cellar  at 
table.  This  was  the  first  earning  that  I  touched  at 
Rome,  and  part  of  it  I  sent  to  assist  my  good  father ; 
the  rest  I  kept  for  my  own  use,  living  upon  it  while 
I  went  about  studying  the  antiquities  of  Rome,  until 
my  money  failed,  and  I  had  to  return  to  the  shop  for 
work.  Battista  del  Tasso,  my  comrade,  did  not  stay 
long  in  Rome,  but  went  back  to  Florence. 

After  undertaking  some  new  commissions,  I  took 
it  into  my  head,  as  soon  as  I  had  finished  them,  to 
change  my  master ;  I  had  indeed  been  worried  into 
doing  so  by  a  certain  Milanese,  called  Pagolo  Ar- 
sago.2  My  first  master,  Firenzuola,  had  a  great  quar- 
rel about  this  with  Arsago,  and  abused  him  in  my 
presence ;  whereupon  I  took  up  speech  in  defence  of 
my  new  master.  I  said  that  I  was  born  free,  and  free 
I  meant  to  live,  and  that  there  was  no  reason  to  com- 
plain of  him,  far  less  of  me,  since  some  few  crowns 
of  wages  were  still  due  to  me ;  also  that  I  chose  to 
go,  like  a  free  journeyman,  where  it  pleased  me, 

1  Cellini's  use  of  the  word  arte  for  the  art  or  trade  of  goldsmiths  corresponds  to 
"the  art"  as  used  by  English  writers  early  in  this  century.  See  Hay  dons  Autobi- 
ography t  passim. 

2  The  Italian  is  sobbillato,  which  might  be  also  translated  inveigled  or  instigated. 
But  Pare  hi,  the  contemporary  of  Cellini,  gives  this  verb  the  force  of  using  pressure 
and  boring  on  until  somebody  is  driven  to  do  something. 

[    103 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

knowing  I  did  wrong  to  no  man.  My  new  master 
then  put  in  with  his  excuses,  saying  that  he  had  not 
asked  me  to  come,  and  that  I  should  gratify  him  by 
returning  with  Firenzuola.  To  this  I  replied  that  I 
was  not  aware  of  wronging  the  latter  in  any  way, 
and  as  I  had  completed  his  commissions,  I  chose  to 
be  my  own  master  and  not  the  man  of  others,  and 
that  he  who  wanted  me  must  beg  me  of  myself. 
Firenzuola  cried :  "  I  doa't  intend  to  beg  you  of  your- 
self; I  have  done  with  you ;  don't  show  yourself  again 
upon  my  premises."  I  reminded  him  of  the  money 
he  owed  me.  He  laughed  me  in  the  face ;  on  which 
I  said  that  if  I  knew  how  to  use  my  tools  in  handi- 
craft as  well  as  he  had  seen,  I  could  be  quite  as  clever 
with  my  sword  in  claiming  the  just  payment  of  my 
labour.  While  we  were  exchanging  these  words,  an 
old  man  happened  to  come  up,  called  Maestro  An- 
tonio, of  San  Marino.  He  was  the  chief  among  the  Ro- 
man goldsmiths,  and  had  been  Firenzuola's  master. 
Hearing  what  I  had  to  say,  which  I  took  good  care 
that  he  should  understand,  he  immediately  espoused 
my  cause,  and  bade  Firenzuola  pay  me.  The  dispute 
waxed  warm,  because  Firenzuola  was  an  admirable 
swordsman,  far  better  than  he  was  a  goldsmith.  Yet 
reason  made  itself  heard ;  and  I  backed  my  cause  with 
the  same  spirit,  till  I  got  myself  paid.  In  course  of 
time  Firenzuola  and  I  became  friends,  and  at  his  re- 
quest I  stood  godfather  to  one  of  his  children. 

xv 

I  went  on  working  with  Pagolo  Arsago,  and  earned 
a  good  deal  of  money,  the  greater  part  of  which  I 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

always  sent  to  my  good  father.  At  the  end  of  two 
years,  upon  my  father's  entreaty,  I  returned  to  Flor- 
ence, and  put  myself  once  more  under  Francesco 
Salimbene,  with  whom  I  earned  a  great  deal,  and  took 
continual  pains  to  improve  in  my  art.  I  renewed  my 
intimacy  with  Francesco  di  Filippo ;  and  though  I  was 
too  much  given  to  pleasure,  owing  to  that  accursed 
music,  I  never  neglected  to  devote  some  hours  of  the 
day  or  night  to  study.  At  that  time  I  fashioned  a  silver 
heart's-key  ( chiavaquore ) ,  as  it  was  then  called.  This 
was  a  girdle  three  inches  broad,  which  used  to  be 
made  for  brides,  and  was  executed  in  half  relief  with 
some  small  figures  in  the  round.  It  was  a  commission 
from  a  man  called  Raffaello  Lapaccini.  I  was  very 
badly  paid ;  but  the  honour  which  it  brought  me  was 
worth  far  more  than  the  gain  I  might  have  justly 
made  by  it.  Having  at  this  time  worked  with  many 
different  persons  in  Florence,  I  had  come  to  know 
some  worthy  men  among  the  goldsmiths,  as,  for  in- 
stance, Marcone,  my  first  master ;  but  I  also  met  with 
others  reputed  honest,  who  did  all  they  could  to  ruin 
me,  and  robbed  me  grossly.  When  I  perceived  this, 
I  left  their  company,  and  held  them  for  thieves  and 
blackguards.  One  of  the  goldsmiths,  called  Giovan- 
battista  Sogliani,  kindly  accommodated  me  with  part 
of  his  shop,  which  stood  at  the  side  of  the  New  Mar- 
ket near  the  Landi's  bank.  There  I  finished  several 
pretty  pieces,  and  made  good  gains,  and  was  able 
to  give  my  family  much  help.  This  roused  the  jeal- 
ousy of  the  bad  men  among  my  former  masters, 
who  were  called  Salvadore  and  Michele  Guasconti. 
In  the  guild  of  the  goldsmiths  they  had  three  big 

C  105  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

shops,  and  drove  a  thriving  trade.  On  becoming 
aware  of  their  evil  will  against  me,  I  complained  to 
certain  worthy  fellows,  and  remarked  that  they  ought 
to  have  been  satisfied  with  the  thieveries  they  prac- 
tised on  me  under  the  cloak  of  hypocritical  kindness. 
This  coming  to  their  ears,  they  threatened  to  make 
me  sorely  repent  of  such  words;  but  I,  who  knew 
not  what  the  colour  of  fear  was,  paid  them  little  or 
no  heed. 

XVI 

It  chanced  one  day  that  I  was  leaning  against  a  shop 
of  one  of  these  men,  who  called  out  to  me,  and  be- 
gan partly  reproaching,  partly  bullying.  I  answered 
that  had  they  done  their  duty  by  me,  I  should  have 
spoken  of  them  what  one  speaks  of  good  and  worthy 
men;  but  as  they  had  done  the  contrary,  they  ought 
to  complain  of  themselves  and  not  of  me.  While  I 
was  standing  there  and  talking,  one  of  them,  named 
Gherardo  Guasconti,  their  cousin,  having  perhaps 
been  put  up  to  it  by  them,  lay  in  wait  till  a  beast  of 
burden  went  by.1  It  was  a  load  of  bricks.  When  the 
load  reached  me,  Gherardo  pushed  it  so  violently  on 
my  body  that  I  was  very  much  hurt.  Turning  sud- 
denly round  and  seeing  him  laughing,  I  struck  him 
such  a  blow  on  the  temple  that  he  fell  down,  stunned, 
like  one  dead.  Then  I  faced  round  to  his  cousins,  and 
said:  "That's  the  way  to  treat  cowardly  thieves  of 
your  sort;"  and  when  they  wanted  to  make  a  move 

1  The  Italian  is  appostb  che  passassi  una  soma.  The  verb  appostare  has  the  double 
meaning  of  lying  in  *wait  and  arranging  something  on  purpose.  Cellini 's  nuords  may 
mean,  caused  a  beast  of  burden  to  pass  by. 

I  106  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

upon  me,  trusting  to  their  numbers,  I,  whose  blood 
was  now  well  up,  laid  hands  to  a  little  knife  I  had, 
and  cried :  "  If  one  of  you  comes  out  of  the  shop, 
let  the  other  run  for  the  confessor,  because  the  doc- 
tor will  have  nothing  to  do  here/'  These  words  so 
frightened  them  that  not  one  stirred  to  help  their 
cousin.  As  soon  as  I  had  gone,  the  fathers  and  sons 
ran  to  the  Eight,  and  declared  that  I  had  assaulted 
them  in  their  shops  with  sword  in  hand,  a  thing 
which  had  never  yet  been  seen  in  Florence.  The 
magistrates  had  me  summoned.  I  appeared  before 
them;  and  they  began  to  upbraid  and  cry  out  upon 
me — partly,  I  think,  because  they  saw  me  in  my 
cloak,  while  the  others  were  dressed  like  citizens  in 
mantle  and  hood;1  but  also  because  my  adversaries 
had  been  to  the  houses  of  those  magistrates,  and  had 
talked  with  all  of  them  in  private,  while  I,  inexpe- 
rienced in  such  matters,  had  not  spoken  to  any  of 
them,  trusting  in  the  goodness  of  my  cause.  I  said 
that,  having  received  such  outrage  and  insult  from 
Gherardo,  and  in  my  fury  having  only  given  him 
a  box  on  the  ear,  I  did  not  think  I  deserved  such  a 
vehement  reprimand.  I  had  hardly  time  to  finish  the 
word  box,  before  Prinzivalle  della  Stufa,2  who  was 
one  of  the  Eight,  interrupted  me  by  saying:  "You 
gave  him  a  blow,  and  not  a  box,  on  the  ear/'  The 
bell  was  rung  and  we  were  all  ordered  out,  when 
Prinzivalle  spoke  thus  in  my  defence  to  his  brother 

1  Varchi  says  that  a  man  nuho  'went  about  with  only  his  cloak  or  cape  by  daytime, 
if  he  "were  not  a  soldier,  <vjas  reputed  an  ill-licver,  'The  Florentine  citizens  at  this 
time  still  'wore  their  ancient  civil  dress  of  the  long  go--wn  and  hood  called  lucco. 
*  This  man  twas  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  Medici,  and  in  1510  organised  a  con- 
spiracy in  their  favour  against  the  Gonfalonier  Soderini, 

C  107  D 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

judges: "  Mark,  sirs,  the  simplicity  of  this  pooryoung 
man,  who  has  accused  himself  of  having  given  a 
box  on  the  ear,  under  the  impression  that  this  is  of 
less  importance  than  a  blow ;  whereas  a  box  on  the 
ear  in  the  New  Market  carries  a  fine  of  twenty-five 
crowns,  while  a  blow  costs  little  or  nothing.  He  is 
a  young  man  of  admirable  talents,  and  supports  his 
poor  family  by  his  labour  in  great  abundance;  I 
would  to  God  that  our  city  had  plenty  of  this  sort, 
instead  of  the  present  dearth  of  them/' 

XVII 

Among  the  magistrates  were  some  Radical  fellows 
with  turned-up  hoods,  who  had  been  influenced  by 
the  entreaties  and  the  calumnies  of  my  opponents, 
because  they  all  belonged  to  the  party  of  Fra  Giro- 
lamo;  and  these  men  would  have  had  me  sent  to 
prison  and  punished  without  too  close  a  reckoning.1 
But  the  good  Prinzivalle  put  a  stop  to  that.  So  they 
sentenced  me  to  pay  four  measures  of  flour,  which 
were  to  be  given  as  alms  to  the  nunnery  of  the 
Murate.2  I  was  called  in  again;  and  he  ordered  me 
not  to  speak  a  word  under  pain  of  their  displeasure, 
and  to  perform  the  sentence  they  had  passed.  Then, 
after  giving  me  another  sharp  rebuke,  they  sent  us 
to  the  chancellor;  I  muttering  all  the  while,  "It 
was  a  slap  and  not  a  blow/'  with  which  we  left  the 

1  Cellini  calls  these  magistrates  arronzinati  cappuccetti,  a  term  corresponding  to 
our  Roundheads.  The  democratic  or  anti-Medicean  party  in  Florence  at  that  time, 
'who  adhered  to  the  republican  principles  of  Fra  Girolamo  Savonarola,  distinguished 
themselves  by  wearing  the  long  tails  of  their  hoods  Pwisted  up  and  turned  round 
their  heads.  Cellini  shows  his  Medicean  sympathies  by  using  this  contemptuous  term, 
and  by  the  honourable  mention  he  makes  of  Prinzivalle  delta  Stufa. 
4  A  convent  of  closely  immured  nuns. 

C  108] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Eight  bursting  with  laughter.  The  chancellor  bound 
us  over  upon  bail  on  both  sides;  but  only  I  was 
punished  by  having  to  pay  the  four  measures  of 
meal.  Albeit  just  then  I  felt  as  though  I  had  been 
massacred,  I  sent  for  one  of  my  cousins,  called  Ma- 
estro Annibale,  the  surgeon,  father  of  Messer  Li- 
brodoro  Librodori,  desiring  that  he  should  go  bail 
for  me.1  He  refused  to  come,  which  made  me  so 
angry,  that,  fuming  with  fury  and  swelling  like  an 
asp,  I  took  a  desperate  resolve.  At  this  point  one 
may  observe  how  the  stars  do  not  so  much  sway  as 
force  our  conduct.  When  I  refledted  on  the  great 
obligations  which  this  Annibale  owed  my  family, 
my  rage  grew  to  such  a  pitch  that,  turning  wholly 
to  evil,  and  being  also  by  nature  somewhat  choleric, 
I  waited  till  the  magistrates  had  gone  to  dinner; 
and  when  I  was  alone,  and  observed  that  none  of 
their  officers  were  watching  me,  in  the  fire  of  my 
anger,  I  left  the  palace,  ran  to  my  shop,  seized  a 
dagger,  and  rushed  to  the  house  of  my  enemies, 
who  were  at  home  and  shop  together.  I  found  them 
at  table ;  and  Gherardo,  who  had  been  the  cause  of 
the  quarrel,  flung  himself  upon  me.  I  stabbed  him 
in  the  breast,  piercing  doublet  and  jerkin  through 
and  through  to  the  shirt,  without  however  grazing 
his  flesh  or  doing  him  the  least  harm  in  the  world. 
When  I  felt  my  hand  go  in,  and  heard  the  clothes 
tear,  I  thought  that  I  had  killed  him;  and  seeing 
him  fall  terror-struck  to  earth,  I  cried:  "Traitors, 
this  day  is  the  day  on  which  I  mean  to  murder  you 

1  The  <wwd  I  have  translated  massacred  above  is  assassinate.  It  occurs  fre- 
quently in  Italian  of  this  period^  and  indicates  the  extremity  of  wrong  and  outrage. 

I  109 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

all."  Father,  mother,  and  sisters,  thinking  the  last 
day  had  come,  threw  themselves  upon  their  knees, 
screaming  out  for  mercy  with  all  their  might;  but 
I  perceiving  that  they  offered  no  resistance,  and 
that  he  was  stretched  for  dead  upon  the  ground, 
thought  it  too  base  a  thing  to  touch  them.  I  ran 
storming  down  the  staircase;  and  when  I  reached 
the  street,  I  found  all  the  rest  of  the  household, 
more  than  twelve  persons;  one  of  them  had  seized 
an  iron  shovel,  another  a  thick  iron  pipe,  one  had 
an  anvil,  some  of  them  hammers,  and  some  cudgels. 
When  I  got  among  them,  raging  like  a  mad  bull, 
I  flung  four  or  five  to  the  earth,  and  fell  down  with 
them  myself,  continually  aiming  my  dagger  now 
at  one  and  now  at  another.  Those  who  remained 
upright  plied  both  hands  with  all  their  force,  giving 
it  me  with  hammers,  cudgels,  and  anvil;  but  inas- 
much as  God  does  sometimes  mercifully  intervene, 
He  so  ordered  that  neither  they  nor  I  did  any  harm 
to  one  another.  I  only  lost  my  cap,  on  which  my 
adversaries  seized,  though  they  had  run  away  from 
it  before,  and  struck  at  it  with  all  their  weapons. 
Afterwards,  they  searched  among  their  dead  and 
wounded,  and  saw  that  not  a  single  man  was  in- 
jured. 

XVIII 

I  went  off  in  the  direction  of  Santa  Maria  Novella, 
and  stumbling  up  against  Fra  Alessio  Strozzi,  whom 
by  the  way  I  did  not  know,  I  entreated  this  good 
friar  for  the  love  of  God  to  save  my  life,  since  I 
had  committed  a  great  fault.  He  told  me  to  have  no 

C  11°  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

fear;  for  had  I  done  every  sin  in  the  world,  I  was 
yet  in  perfect  safety  in  his  little  cell. 

After  about  an  hour,  the  Eight,  in  an  extraordinary 
meeting,  caused  one  of  the  most  dreadful  bans 
which  ever  were  heard  of  to  be  published  against 
me,  announcing  heavy  penalties  against  who  should 
harbour  me  or  know  where  I  was,  without  regard 
to  place  or  to  the  quality  of  my  protector.  My  poor 
afflicted  father  went  to  the  Eight,  threw  himself 
upon  his  knees,  and  prayed  for  mercy  for  his  un- 
fortunate young  son.  Thereupon  one  of  those  Rad- 
ical fellows,  shaking  the  crest  of  his  twisted  hood, 
stood  up  and  addressed  my  father  with  these  insult- 
ing words:1  "Get  up  from  there,  and  begone  at 
once,  for  to-morrow  we  shall  send  your  son  into 
the  country  with  the  lances/'2  My  poor  father  had 
still  the  spirit  to  answer:  "What  God  shall  have 
ordained,  that  will  you  do,  and  not  a  jot  or  tittle 
more/' Whereto  the  same  man  replied  that  for  certain 
God  had  ordained  as  he  had  spoken.  My  father  said: 
"The  thought  consoles  me  that  you  do  not  know 
for  certain;"  and  quitting  their  presence,  he  came 
to  visit  me,  together  with  a  young  man  of  my  own 
age,  called  Piero  di  Giovanni  Landi — we  loved  one 
another  as  though  we  had  been  brothers. 

Under  his  mantle  the  lad  carried  a  first-rate  sword 
and  a  splendid  coat  of  mail ;  and  when  they  found  me, 

1  Un  di  quelli  arrovellati  scotendo  la  cresta  dello  arronzinato  cappucdo.  See  above, 
p.  1 08.  The  democrats  in  Cellini's  days  were  called  at  Florence  Arrabbiati  or  Ar- 
rovellati.  In  the  days  of  Savonarola  this  nickname  had  been  given  to  the  ultra- 
Medicean  party  or  Palleschi. 

*  Lanciotti.  There  is  some  doubt  about  this  nuord.  But  it  clearly  means  men  armea. 
lances,  at  the  disposal  of  the  Signory. 

c  i«  : 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

my  brave  father  told  me  what  had  happened,  and 
what  the  magistrates  had  said  to  him.  Then  he  kissed 
me  on  the  forehead  and  both  eyes,  and  gave  me  his 
hearty  blessing,  saying: "  May  the  power  and  good- 
ness of  God  be  your  protection ; "  and  reaching  me  the 
sword  and  armour,  he  helped  me  with  his  own  hands 
to  put  them  on.  Afterwards  he  added: "  Oh,  my  good 
son,  with  these  arms  in  thy  hand  thou  shalt  either  live 
or  die."  Pier  Landi,  who  was  present,  kept  shedding 
tears ;  and  when  he  had  given  me  ten  golden  crowns, 
I  bade  him  remove  a  few  hairs  from  my  chin,  which 
were  the  first  down  of  my  manhood.  Frate  Alessio 
disguised  me  like  a  friar  and  gave  me  a  lay  brother 
to  go  with  me.1  Quitting  the  convent,  and  issuing 
from  the  city  by  the  gate  of  Prato,  I  went  along  the 
walls  as  far  as  the  Piazza  di  San  Gallo.  Then  I  as- 
cended the  slope  of  Montui,  and  in  one  of  the  first 
houses  there  I  found  a  man  called  II  Grassuccio,  own 
brother  to  Messer  Benedetto  da  Monte  Varchi.2!  flung 
off  my  monk's  clothes,  and  became  once  more  a  man. 
Then  we  mounted  two  horses,  which  were  waiting 
there  for  us,  and  went  by  night  to  Siena.  Grassuccio 
returned  to  Florence,  sought  out  my  father,  and  gave 
him  the  news  of  my  safe  escape.  In  the  excess  of  his 
joy,  it  seemed  a  thousand  years  to  my  father  till  he 
should  meet  that  member  of  the  Eight  who  had  in- 
sulted him;  and  when  he  came  across  the  man,  he 
said:  "See  you,  Antonio,  that  it  was  God  who  knew 

1  Un  converse,  an  attendant  on  the  monks. 

2  Benedetto  da  Monte  Varchi  <was  the  celebrated  poet,  scholar,  and  historian  of 
Florence,  better  known  as  Varchi.  Another  of  his  brothers  'was  a  physician  of  high 
repute  at  Florence.  They  continued  throughout  Cellini  s  life  to  live  on  terms  of  inti- 
macy 'with  him. 

L  "a  ] 


BENEDETTO      VARCHI 

(TITIAN  I 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

what  had  to  happen  to  my  son,  and  not  yourself?" 
To  which  the  fellow  answered:  "Only  let  him  get 
another  time  into  our  clutches!"  And  my  father:  "I 
shall  spend  my  time  in  thanking  God  that  He  has 
rescued  him  from  that  fate." 

XIX 

At  Siena  I  waited  for  the  mail  to  Rome,  which  I  after- 
wards joined ;  and  when  we  passed  the  Paglia,  we 
met  a  courier  carrying  news  of  the  new  fope,  Cle- 
ment VII.  Upon  my  arrival  in  Rome,  I  went  to  work 
in  the  shop  of  the  master-goldsmith  Santi.  He  was 
dead;  but  a  son  of  his  carried  on  the  business.  He 
did  not  work  himself,  but  entrusted  all  his  commis- 
sions to  a  young  man  named  Lucagnolo  from  lesi, 
a  country  fellow,  who  while  yet  a  child  had  come 
into  Santi's  service.  This  man  was  short  but  well 
proportioned,  and  was  a  more  skilful  craftsman  than 
any  one  whom  I  had  met  with  up  to  that  time ;  re- 
markable for  facility  and  excellent  in  design.  He  ex- 
ecuted large  plate  only ;  that  is  to  say,  vases  of  the 
utmost  beauty,  basons,  and  such  pieces.1  Having  put 
myself  to  work  there,  I  began  to  make  some  candela- 
bra for  the  Bishop  of  Salamanca,  a  Spaniard.2  They 
were  richly  chased,  so  far  as  that  sort  of  work  ad- 
mits. A  pupil  of  Raffaello  da  Urbino  called  Gian  Fran- 
cesco, and  commonly  known  as  ll  Fattore,  was  a 
painter  of  great  ability;  and  being  on  terms  of  friend- 
ship with  the  Bishop,  he  introduced  me  to  his  favour, 

1  Cellini  calls  this  grosseria. 

*  Don  Francesco  de  Bobadilla.  He  came  to  Rome  in  1 5 1 7,  'was  shut  up  ^with  Clement 

in  the  Castle  of  S.  Angela  in  1527,  and  died  in  1 529,  after  his  return  to  Spain. 

C    "3   1 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

so  that  I  obtained  many  commissions  from  that  pre- 
late, and  earned  considerable  sums  of  money.1 

During  that  time  I  went  to  draw,  sometimes  in 
Michel  Agnolo's  chapel,  and  sometimes  in  the  house 
of  Agostino  Chigi  of  Siena,  which  contained  many 
incomparable  paintings  by  the  hand  of  that  great 
master  Raffaello.2  This  I  did  on  feast-days,  because 
the  house  was  then  inhabited  by  Messer  Gismondo, 
Agostino's  brother.  They  plumed  themselves  ex- 
ceedingly when  they  saw  young  men  of  my  sort  com- 
ing to  study  in  their  palaces.  Gismondo's  wife,  no- 
ticing my  frequent  presence  in  that  house — she  was 
a  lady  as  courteous  as  could  be,  and  of  surpassing 
beauty — came  up  to  me  one  day,  looked  at  my  draw- 
ings, and  asked  me  if  I  was  a  sculptor  or  a  painter; 
to  whom  I  said  I  was  a  goldsmith.  She  remarked 
that  I  drew  too  well  for  a  goldsmith ;  and  having  made 
one  of  her  waiting-maids  bring  a  lily  of  the  finest  dia- 
monds set  in  gold,  she  showed  it  to  me,  and  bade 
me  value  it.  I  valued  it  at  800  crowns.  Then  she 
said  that  I  had  very  nearly  hit  the  mark,  and  asked 
me  whether  I  felt  capable  of  setting  the  stones  really 
well.  I  said  that  I  should  much  like  to  do  so,  and 
began  before  her  eyes  to  make  a  little  sketch  for  it, 
working  all  the  better  because  of  the  pleasure  I  took 
in  conversing  with  so  lovely  and  agreeable  a  gen- 
tlewoman. When  the  sketch  was  finished,  another 

1  This  painter,  Gio.  Francesco  Penni,  surnamed  II  Fattore,  aided  Raphael  in  his 
Roman  frescoes  and  ivas  much  beloved  by  him.  Together  'with  Giulio  Romano  hi 
compkted  the  imperfe£l  Stanze  of  the  Vatican. 

*  Cellini  here  alludes  to  the  Sistine  Chapel  and  to  the  Villa  Farnesina  in  Trastevere, 
built  by  the  Sienese  banker,  Agostino  Chigi.  It  'was  here  that  Raphael  painted  his 
Galatea  a?td  the  'whole  fable  of  Cupid  and  Psyche. 

114 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Roman  lady  of  great  beauty  joined  us ;  she  had  been 
above,  and  now  descending  to  the  ground-floor, 
asked  Madonna  Porzia  what  she  was  doing  there. 
She  answered  with  a  smile:  "I  am  amusing  myself 
by  watching  this  worthy  young  man  at  his  drawing ; 
he  is  as  good  as  he  is  handsome/'  I  had  by  this  time 
acquired  a  trifle  of  assurance,  mixed,  however,  with 
some  honest  bashfulness;  so  I  blushed  and  said: 
"  Such  as  I  am,  lady,  I  shall  ever  be  most  ready  to 
serve  you."  The  gentlewoman,  also  slightly  blush- 
ing, said:  "You  know  well  that  I  want  you  to  serve 
me;"  and  reaching  me  the  lily,  told  me  to  take  it 
away;  and  gave  me  besides  twenty  golden  crowns 
which  she  had  in  her  bag,  and  added :  "  Set  me  the 
jewel  after  the  fashion  you  have  sketched,  and  keep 
for  me  the  old  gold  in  which  it  is  now  set."  On  this 
the  Roman  lady  observed :  "  If  I  were  in  that  young 
man's  body,  I  should  go  off  without  asking  leave." 
Madonna  Porzia  replied  that  virtues  rarely  are  at 
home  with  vices, and  that  if  I  did  such  a  thing,  I  should 
strongly  belie  my  good  looks  of  an  honest  man.  Then 
turning  round,  she  took  the  Roman  lady's  hand,  and 
with  a  pleasant  smile  said:  "Farewell,  Benvenuto." 
I  stayed  on  a  short  while  at  the  drawing  I  was  mak- 
ing, which  was  a  copy  of  a  Jove  by  Raffaello.  When 
I  had  finished  it  and  left  the  house,  I  set  myself  to 
making  a  little  model  of  wax,  in  order  to  show  how 
the  jewel  would  look  when  it  was  completed.  This 
I  took  to  Madonna  Porzia,  whom  I  found  with  the 
same  Roman  lady.  Both  of  them  were  highly  satis- 
fied with  my  work,  and  treated  me  so  kindly  that, 
being  somewhat  emboldened,  I  promised  the  jewel 

C   "5  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

should  be  twice  as  good  as  the  model.  Accordingly 
I  set  hand  to  it,  and  in  twelve  days  I  finished  it  in 
the  form  of  a  fleur-de-lys,  as  I  have  said  above,  or- 
namenting it  with  little  masks,  children,  and  ani- 
mals, exquisitely  enamelled,  whereby  the  diamonds 
which  formed  the  lily  were  more  than  doubled  in 
effea. 

xx 

While  I  was  working  at  this  piece,  Lucagnolo,  of 
whose  ability  I  have  before  spoken,  showed  consid- 
erable discontent,  telling  me  over  and  over  again  that 
I  might  acquire  far  more  profit  and  honour  by  help- 
ing him  to  execute  large  plate,  as  I  had  done  at  first. 
I  made  him  answer  that,  whenever  I  chose,  I  should 
always  be  capable  of  working  at  great  silver  pieces ; 
but  that  things  like  that  on  which  I  was  now  engaged 
were  not  commissioned  every  day ;  and  beside  their 
bringing  no  less  honour  than  large  silver  plate, 
there  was  also  more  profit  to  be  made  by  them.  He 
laughed  me  in  the  face,  and  said:  "Wait  and  see, 
Benvenuto;  for  by  the  time  that  you  have  finished 
that  work  of  yours,  I  will  make  haste  to  have  fin- 
ished this  vase,  which  I  took  in  hand  when  you  did 
the  jewel ;  and  then  experience  shall  teach  you  what 
profit  I  shall  get  from  my  vase,  and  what  you  will 
get  from  your  ornament."  I  answered  that  I  was 
very  glad  indeed  to  enter  into  such  a  competition 
with  so  good  a  craftsman  as  he  was,  because  the 
end  would  show  which  of  us  was  mistaken.  Accord- 
ingly both  the  one  and  the  other  of  us,  with  a  scorn- 
ful smile  upon  our  lips,  bent  our  heads  in  grim  ear- 

C    »6  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

nest  to  the  work,  which  both  were  now  desirous  of 
accomplishing ;  so  that  after  about  ten  days,  each  had 
finished  his  undertaking  with  great  delicacy  and 
artistic  skill. 

Lucagnolo's  was  a  huge  silver  piece,  used  at  the 
table  of  Pope  Clement,  into  which  he  flung  away 
bits  of  bone  and  the  rind  of  divers  fruits,  while  eat- 
ing; an  obje6l  of  ostentation  rather  than  necessity. 
The  vase  was  adorned  with  two  fine  handles,  to- 
gether with  many  masks,  both  small  and  great,  and 
masses  of  lovely  foliage,  in  as  exquisite  a  style  of 
elegance  as  could  be  imagined;  on  seeing  which 
I  said  it  was  the  most  beautiful  vase  that  ever  I 
set  eyes  on.  Thinking  he  had  convinced  me,  Luca- 
gnolo  replied:  "Your  work  seems  to  me  no  less 
beautiful,  but  we  shall  soon  perceive  the  difference 
between  the  two/'  So  he  took  his  vase  and  carried 
it  to  the  Pope,  who  was  very  well  pleased  with  it, 
and  ordered  at  once  that  he  should  be  paid  at  the 
ordinary  rate  of  such  large  plate.  Meanwhile  I  car- 
ried mine  to  Madonna  Porzia,  who  looked  at  it  with 
astonishment,  and  told  me  I  had  far  surpassed  my 
promise.  Then  she  bade  me  ask  for  my  reward 
whatever  I  liked ;  for  it  seemed  to  her  my  desert 
was  so  great  that  if  I  craved  a  castle  she  could 
hardly  recompense  me;  but  since  that  was  not  in 
her  hands  to  bestow,  she  added  laughing  that  I 
must  beg  what  lay  within  her  power.  I  answered 
that  the  greatest  reward  I  could  desire  for  my 
labour  was  to  have  satisfied  her  ladyship.  Then, 
smiling  in  my  turn,  and  bowing  to  her,  I  took  my 
leave,  saying  I  wanted  no  reward  but  that.  She 

C   H7  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

turned  to  the  Roman  lady  and  said:  "You  see  that 
the  qualities  we  discerned  in  him  are  companied  by 
virtues,  and  not  vices."  They  both  expressed  their 
admiration,  and  then  Madonna  Porzia  continued: 
"Friend  Benvenuto,  have  you  never  heard  it  said 
that  when  the  poor  give  to  the  rich,  the  devil 
laughs?"  I  replied:  "Quite  true!  and  yet,  in  the 
midst  of  all  his  troubles,  I  should  like  this  time  to 
see  him  laugh;"  and  as  I  took  my  leave,  she  said 
that  this  time  she  had  no  will  to  bestow  on  him  that 
favour. 

When  I  came  back  to  the  shop,  Lucagnolo  had 
the  money  for  his  vase  in  a  paper  packet ;  and  on 
my  arrival  he  cried  out:  "Come  and  compare  the 
price  of  your  jewel  with  the  price  of  my  plate."  I 
said  that  he  must  leave  things  as  they  were  till  the 
next  day,  because  I  hoped  that  even  as  my  work 
in  its  kind  was  not  less  excellent  than  his,  so  I 
should  be  able  to  show  him  quite  an  equal  price 
for  it. 

XXI 

On  the  day  following,  Madonna  Porzia  sent  a 
major-domo  of  hers  to  my  shop,  who  called  me  out, 
and  putting  into  my  hands  a  paper  packet  full  of 
money  from  his  lady,  told  me  that  she  did  not 
choose  the  devil  should  have  his  whole  laugh  out: 
by  which  she  hinted  that  the  money  sent  me  was 
not  the  entire  payment  merited  by  my  industry,  and 
other  messages  were  added  worthy  of  so  courteous 
a  lady.  Lucagnolo,  who  was  burning  to  compare 
his  packet  with  mine,  burst  into  the  shop;  then  in 

c  us : 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

the  presence  of  twelve  journeymen  and  some  neigh- 
bours, eager  to  behold  the  result  of  this  competition, 
he  seized  his  packet,  scornfully  exclaiming  "Ou! 
ou ! "  three  or  four  times,  while  he  poured  his  money 
on  the  counter  with  a  great  noise.  They  were 
twenty-five  crowns  in  giulios;  and  he  fancied  that 
mine  would  be  four  or  five  crowns  di  moneta.1  I  for 
my  part,  stunned  and  stifled  by  his  cries,  and  by  the 
looks  and  smiles  of  the  bystanders,  first  peeped  into 
my  packet;  then,  after  seeing  that  it  contained  no- 
thing but  gold,  I  retired  to  one  end  of  the  counter, 
and,  keeping  my  eyes  lowered  and  making  no  noise 
at  all,  I  lifted  it  with  both  hands  suddenly  above 
my  head,  and  emptied  it  like  a  mill  hopper.2  My 
coin  was  twice  as  much  as  his;  which  caused  the 
onlookers,  who  had  fixed  their  eyes  on  me  with 
some  derision,  to  turn  round  suddenly  to  him  and 
say:  "Lucagnolo,  Benvenuto's  pieces,  being  all  of 
gold  and  twice  as  many  as  yours,  make  a  far  finer 
efFecl/'  I  thought  for  certain  that,  what  with  jeal- 
ousy and  what  with  shame,  Lucagnolo  would  have 
fallen  dead  upon  the  spot;  and  though  he  took  the 
third  part  of  my  gain,  since  I  was  a  journeyman 
(for  such  is  the  custom  of  the  trade,  two-thirds  fall 
to  the  workman  and  one-third  to  the  masters  of  the 
shop ) ,  yet  inconsiderate  envy  had  more  power  in  him 
than  avarice:  it  ought  indeed  to  have  worked  quite 

1  Scitdi  di  giuli  and  scudi  di  moneta.  The  giulionuas  a  silver  coin 'worth  56  Italian 
centimes.  The  scudi  di  moneta  nuas  'worth  10  giulios.  Cellini  was  paid  in  golden 
crowns,  which  had  a  much  higher  value.  The  scudo  and  the  ducato  at  this  epoch 
'were  reckoned  at  7  /ire,  the  lira  at  20  soldi. 

2  The  packet  'was  funnel-shaped,  and  Cellini  poured  the  coins  out  from  the  broad 
end. 

C    n»3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

the  other  way,  he  being  a  peasant's  son  from  lesi. 
He  cursed  his  art  and  those  who  taught  it  him,  vow- 
ing that  thenceforth  he  would  never  work  at  large 
plate,  but  give  his  whole  attention  to  those  whoreson 
gewgaws,  since  they  were  so  well  paid.  Equally  en- 
raged on  my  side,  I  answered  that  every  bird  sang 
its  own  note;  that  he  talked  after  the  fashion  of  the 
hovels  he  came  from ;  but  that  I  dared  swear  that 
I  should  succeed  with  ease  in  making  his  lubberly 
lumber,  while  he  would  never  be  successful  in  my 
whoreson  gewgaws.1  Thus  I  flung  off  in  a  passion, 
telling  him  that  I  would  soon  show  him  that  I  spoke 
truth.  The  bystanders  openly  declared  against  him, 
holding  him  for  a  lout,  as  indeed  he  was,  and  me  for 
a  man,  as  I  had  proved  myself. 

XXII 

Next  day,  I  went  to  thank  Madonna  Porzia,  and  told 
her  that  her  ladyship  had  done  the  opposite  of  what 
she  said  she  would ;  for  that  while  I  wanted  to  make 
the  devil  laugh,  she  had  made  him  once  more  deny 
God.  We  both  laughed  pleasantly  at  this,  and  she 
gave  me  other  commissions  for  fine  and  substantial 
work. 

Meanwhile,  I  contrived,  by  means  of  a  pupil  of 
Raffaello  da  JJrbino,  to  get  an  order  from  the  Bishop 
of  Salamanca  for  one  of  those  great  water-vessels 
called  acquereccia,  which  are  used  for  ornaments  to 
place  on  sideboards.  He  wanted  a  pair  made  of  equal 
size;  and  one  of  them  he  intrusted  to  Lucagnolo, 
the  other  to  me.  Giovan  Francesco,  the  painter  I 

1  The  t*wo  slang  phrases  translated  above  are  bordellerie  and  coglionerie. 

C  12°  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

have  mentioned,  gave  us  the  design.1  Accordingly 
I  set  hand  with  marvellous  good- will  to  this  piece  of 
plate,  and  was  accommodated  with  a  part  of  his  work- 
shop by  a  Milanese  named  Maestro  Giovan  Piero 
della  Tacca.  Having  made  my  preparations,  I  cal- 
culated how  much  money  I  should  need  for  certain 
affairs  of  my  own,  and  sent  all  the  rest  to  assist  my 
poor  father. 

It  so  happened  that  just  when  this  was  being  paid 
to  him  in  Florence,  he  stumbled  upon  one  of  those 
Radicals  who  were  in  the  Eight  at  the  time  when  I 
got  into  that  little  trouble  there.  It  was  the  very 
man  who  had  abused  him  so  rudely,  and  who  swore 
that  I  should  certainly  be  sent  into  the  country  with 
the  lances.  Now  this  fellow  had  some  sons  of  very 
bad  morals  and  repute;  wherefore  my  father  said 
to  him:  "  Misfortunes  can  happen  to  anybody,  espe- 
cially to  men  of  choleric  humour  when  they  are  in  the 
right,  even  as  it  happened  to  my  son ;  but  let  the  rest 
of  his  life  bear  witness  how  virtuously  I  have  brought 
him  up.  Would  God,  for  your  well-being,  that  your 
sons  may  a6l  neither  worse  nor  better  toward  you 
than  mine  do  to  me.  God  rendered  me  able  to  bring 
them  up  as  I  have  done ;  and  where  my  own  power 
could  not  reach,  'twas  He  who  rescued  them,  against 
your  expectation,  out  of  your  violent  hands/'  On 
leaving  the  man,  he  wrote  me  all  this  story,  begging 
me  for  God's  sake  to  praclise  music  at  times,  in  order 
that  I  might  not  lose  the  fine  accomplishment  which 
he  had  taught  me  with  such  trouble.  The  letter  so 
overflowed  with  expressions  of  the  tenderest  fatherly 

1  That  is,  II  Fattore.  See  above,  p.  114. 

C    121    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

affection,  that  I  was  moved  to  tears  of  filial  piety, 
resolving,  before  he  died,  to  gratify  him  amply  with 
regard  to  music.  Thus  God  grants  us  those  lawful 
blessings  which  we  ask  in  prayer,  nothing  doubting. 

XXIII 

While  I  was  pushing  forward  Salamanca's  vase,  I 
had  only  one  little  boy  as  help,  whom  I  had  taken 
at  the  entreaty  of  friends,  and  half  against  my  own 
will,  to  be  my  workman.  He  was  about  fourteen 
years  of  age,  bore  the  name  of  Paulino,  and  was 
son  to  a  Roman  burgess,  who  lived  upon  the  income 
of  his  property.  Paulino  was  the  best-mannered,  the 
most  honest,  and  the  most  beautiful  boy  I  ever  saw 
in  my  whole  life.  His  modest  ways  and  actions,  to- 
gether with  his  superlative  beauty  and  his  devotion 
to  myself,  bred  in  me  as  great  an  affection  for  him 
as  a  man's  breast  can  hold.  This  passionate  love  led 
me  oftentimes  to  delight  the  lad  with  music;  for  I 
observed  that  his  marvellous  features,  which  by  com- 
plexion wore  a  tone  of  modest  melancholy,  bright- 
ened up,  and  when  I  took  my  cornet,  broke  into  a 
smile  so  lovely  and  so  sweet,  that  I  do  not  marvel 
at  the  silly  stories  which  the  Greeks  have  written 
about  the  deities  of  heaven.  Indeed,  if  my  boy  had 
lived  in  those  times,  he  would  probably  have  turned 
their  heads  still  more.1  He  had  a  sister  named  Faus- 
tina, more  beautiful,  I  verily  believe,  than  that  Faus- 
tina about  whom  the  old  books  gossip  so.  Sometimes 
he  took  me  to  their  vineyard,  and,  so  far  as  I  could 

1  Gli  Arebbe  fatti  piit  uscire  de'  gangherl ;  "Mould  have  taken  them  still  more  off 
the  hinges. 

C  122  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

judge,  it  struck  me  that  Paulino's  good  father  would 
have  welcomed  me  as  a  son-in-law.  This  affair  led  me 
to  play  more  than  I  was  used  to  do. 

It  happened  at  that  time  that  one  Giangiacomo  of 
Cesena,  a  musician  in  the  Pope's  band,  and  a  very 
excellent  performer,  sent  word  through  Lorenzo, 
the  trumpeter  of  Lucca,  who  is  now  in  our  Duke's 
service,  to  inquire  whether  I  was  inclined  to  help 
them  at  the  Pope's  Ferragosto,  playing  soprano 
with  my  cornet  in  some  motets  of  great  beauty 
selected  by  them  for  that  occasion.1  Although  I  had 
the  greatest  desire  to  finish  the  vase  I  had  begun, 
yet,  since  music  has  a  wondrous  charm  of  its  own, 
and  also  because  I  wished  to  please  my  old  father, 
I  consented  to  join  them.  During  eight  days  before 
the  festival  we  practised  two  hours  a  day  together ; 
then  on  the  first  of  August  we  went  to  the  Bel- 
vedere, and  while  Pope  Clement  was  at  table,  we 
played  those  carefully  studied  motets  so  well  that 
his  Holiness  protested  he  had  never  heard  music 
more  sweetly  executed  or  with  better  harmony  of 
parts.  He  sent  for  Giangiacomo,  and  asked  him 
where  and  how  he  had  procured  so  excellent  a  cor- 
net for  soprano,  and  inquired  particularly  who  I 
was.  Giangiacomo  told  him  my  name  in  full.  Where- 
upon the  Pope  said:  "So,  then,  he  is  the  son  of 
Maestro  Giovanni  ? "  On  being  assured  I  was,  the 
Pope  expressed  his  wish  to  have  me  in  his  service 
with  the  other  bandsmen.  Giangiacomo  replied: 
"  Most  blessed  Father,  I  cannot  pretend  for  certain 
that  you  will  get  him,  for  his  profession,  to  which  he 

1  The  Ferragosto  or  Feria  Augusti  <was  a  festival  apon  the  first  of  August. 

C  12s  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

devotes  himself  assiduously,  is  that  of  a  goldsmith, 
and  he  works  in  it  miraculously  well,  and  earns 
by  it  far  more  than  he  could  do  by  playing."  To 
this  the  Pope  added:  "I  am  the  better  inclined  to 
him  now  that  I  find  him  possessor  of  a  talent  more 
than  I  expected.  See  that  he  obtains  the  same  salary 
as  the  rest  of  you ;  and  tell  him  from  me  to  join  my 
service,  and  that  I  will  find  work  enough  by  the 
day  for  him  to  do  in  his  other  trade."  Then  stretch- 
ing out  his  hand,  he  gave  him  a  hundred  golden 
crowns  of  the  Camera  in  a  handkerchief,  and  said:1 
"  Divide  these  so  that  he  may  take  his  share." 

When  Giangiacomo  left  the  Pope,  he  came  to  us, 
and  related  in  detail  all  that  the  Pope  had  said;  and 
after  dividing  the  money  between  the  eight  of  us, 
and  giving  me  my  share,  he  said  to  me :  "  Now  I  am 
going  to  have  you  inscribed  among  our  company." 
I  replied:  "Let  the  day  pass;  to-morrow  I  will  give 
my  answer."  When  I  left  them,  I  went  meditating 
whether  I  ought  to  accept  the  invitation,  inasmuch 
as  I  could  not  but  suffer  if  I  abandoned  the  noble 
studies  of  my  art.  The  following  night  my  father  ap- 
peared to  me  in  a  dream,  and  begged  me  with  tears 
of  tenderest  affection,  for  God's  love  and  his,  to  en- 
ter upon  this  engagement.  Methought  I  answered 
that  nothing  would  induce  me  to  do  so.  In  an  instant 
he  assumed  so  horrible  an  aspect  as  to  frighten  me 
out  of  my  wits,  and  cried:  "If  you  do  not,  you  will 
have  a  father's  curse;  but  if  you  do,  may  you  be 
ever  blessed  by  me!"  When  I  woke,  I  ran,  for  very 
fright,  to  have  myself  inscribed.  Then  I  wrote  to  my 

1  The  Camera  Apostolica  'was  the  Roman  Exchequer. 

124 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

old  father,  telling  him  the  news,  which  so  affe6led 
him  with  extreme  joy  that  a  sudden  fit  of  illness 
took  him,  and  well-nigh  brought  him  to  death's  door. 
In  his  answer  to  my  letter,  he  told  me  that  he  too 
had  dreamed  nearly  the  same  as  I  had. 

XXIV 

Knowing  now  that  I  had  gratified  my  father's  hon- 
est wish,  I  began  to  think  that  everything  would 
prosper  with  me  to  a  glorious  and  honourable  end. 
Accordingly,  I  set  myself  with  indefatigable  indus- 
try to  the  completion  of  the  vase  I  had  begun  for 
Salamanca.  That  prelate  was  a  very  extraordinary 
man,  extremely  rich,  but  difficult  to  please.  He  sent 
daily  to  learn  what  I  was  doing ;  and  when  his  mes- 
senger did  not  find  me  at  home,  he  broke  into  fury, 
saying  that  he  would  take  the  work  out  of  my  hands 
and  give  it  to  others  to  finish.  This  came  of  my  slav- 
ery to  that  accursed  music.  Still  I  laboured  dili- 
gently night  and  day,  until,  when  I  had  brought  my 
work  to  a  point  when  it  could  be  exhibited,  I  sub- 
mitted it  to  the  inspection  of  the  Bishop.  This  so  in- 
creased his  desire  to  see  it  finished,  that  I  was  sorry 
I  had  shown  it.  At  the  end  of  three  months  I  had  it 
ready,  with  little  animals  and  foliage  and  masks,  as 
beautiful  as  one  could  hope  to  see.  No  sooner  was  it 
done  than  I  sent  it  by  the  hand  of  my  workman,  Pau- 
lino, to  show  that  able  artist  Lucagnolo,  of  whom 
I  have  spoken  above.  Paulino,  with  the  grace  and 
beauty  which  belonged  to  him,  spoke  as  follows: 
"  Messer  Lucagnolo,  Benvenuto  bids  me  say  that  he 
has  sent  to  show  you  his  promises  and  your  lumber, 

C   125  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

expecting  in  return  to  see  from  you  his  gewgaws." 
This  message  given,  Lucagnolo  took  up  the  vase, 
and  carefully  examined  it;  then  he  said  to  Paulino: 
"  Fair  boy,  tell  your  master  that  he  is  a  great  and 
able  artist,  and  that  I  beg  him  to  be  willing  to  have 
me  for  a  friend,  and  not  to  engage  in  aught  else/' 
The  mission  of  that  virtuous  and  marvellous  lad 
caused  me  the  greatest  joy ;  and  then  the  vase  was 
carried  to  Salamanca,  who  ordered  it  to  be  valued. 
Lucagnolo  took  part  in  the  valuation,  estimating  and 
praising  it  far  above  my  own  opinion.  Salamanca,  lift- 
ing up  the  vase,  cried  like  a  true  Spaniard:  "I  swear 
by  God  that  I  will  take  as  long  in  paying  him  as  he 
has  lagged  in  making  it."  When  I  heard  this,  I  was 
exceedingly  put  out,  and  fell  to  cursing  all  Spain  and 
every  one  who  wished  well  to  it. 

Amongst  other  beautiful  ornaments,  this  vase  had 
a  handle,  made  all  of  one  piece,  with  most  delicate 
mechanism,  which,  when  a  spring  was  touched,  stood 
upright  above  the  mouth  of  it.  While  the  prelate 
was  one  day  ostentatiously  exhibiting  my  vase  to 
certain  Spanish  gentlemen  of  his  suite,  it  chanced 
that  one  of  them,  upon  Monsignor's  quitting  the 
room,  began  roughly  to  work  the  handle,  and  as 
the  gentle  spring  which  moved  it  could  not  bear  his 
loutish  violence,  it  broke  in  his  hand.  Aware  what 
mischief  he  had  done,  he  begged  the  butler  who 
had  charge  of  the  Bishop's  plate  to  take  it  to  the 
master  who  had  made  it,  for  him  to  mend,  and  pro- 
mised to  pay  what  price  he  asked,  provided  it  was  set 
to  rights  at  once.  So  the  vase  came  once  more  into 
my  hands,  and  I  promised  to  put  it  forthwith  in 

[    126    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

order,  which  indeed  I  did.  It  was  brought  to  me  be- 
fore dinner ;  and  at  twenty-two  o'clock  the  man  who 
brought  it  returned,  all  in  a  sweat,  for  he  had  run 
the  whole  way,  Monsignor  having  again  asked  for 
it  to  show  to  certain  other  gentlemen.1  The  butler, 
then,  without  giving  me  time  to  utter  a  word,  cried: 
"Quick,  quick,  bring  the  vase."  I,  who  wanted  to 
acl:  at  leisure  and  not  to  give  it  up  to  him,  said  that 
I  did  not  mean  to  be  so  quick.  The  serving-man  got 
into  such  a  rage  that  he  made  as  though  he  would 
put  one  hand  to  his  sword,  while  with  the  other  he 
threatened  to  break  the  shop  open.  To  this  I  put  a 
stop  at  once  with  my  own  weapon,  using  therewith 
spirited  language,  and  saying:  "I  am  not  going  to 
give  it  to  you !  Go  and  tell  Monsignor,  your  master, 
that  I  want  the  money  for  my  work  before  I  let  it 
leave  this  shop."  When  the  fellow  saw  he  could  not 
obtain  it  by  swaggering,  he  fell  to  praying  me,  as 
one  prays  to  the  Cross,  declaring  that  if  I  would 
only  give  it  up,  he  would  take  care  I  should  be  paid. 
These  words  did  not  make  me  swerve  from  my  pur- 
pose; but  I  kept  on  saying  the  same  thing.  At  last, 
despairing  of  success,  he  swore  to  come  with  Span- 
iards enough  to  cut  me  in  pieces.  Then  he  took  to 
his  heels;  while  I,  who  inclined  to  believe  partly  in 
their  murderous  attack,  resolved  that  I  would  de- 
fend myself  with  courage.  So  I  got  an  admirable 

1  'the  Italians  reckoned  time  from  sundown  till  sundown,  counting  twenty-four  hours. 
Twenty-two  o'clock  'was  therefore  two  hours  before  nightfall.  One  hour  of  the  night 
was  one  hour  after  nightfall,  and  so  forth.  By  this  system  of  reckoning,  it  is  clear 
that  the  hours  <varied  with  the  season  of  the  year ;  and  unless  we  know  the  exatl 
month  in  which  an  event  took  place,  we  cannot  translate  any  hour  into  terms  of  our 
own  system. 

C   127  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

little  gun  ready,  which  I  used  for  shooting  game, 
and  muttered  to  myself:  "  He  who  robs  me  of  my 
property  and  labour  may  take  my  life  too,  and  wel- 
come/' While  I  was  carrying  on  this  debate  in  my 
own  mind,  a  crowd  of  Spaniards  arrived,  led  by  their 
major-domo,  who,  with  the  headstrong  rashness  of 
his  race,  bade  them  go  in  and  take  the  vase  and  give 
me  a  good  beating.  Hearing  these  words,  I  showed 
them  the  muzzle  of  my  gun,  and  prepared  to  fire, 
and  cried  in  a  loud  voice:  "Renegade  Jews, traitors, 
is  it  thus  that  one  breaks  into  houses  and  shops  in 
our  city  of  Rome  ?  Come  as  many  of  you  thieves  as 
like,  an  inch  nearer  to  this  wicket,  and  Til  blow  all 
their  brains  out  with  my  gun/'  Then  I  turned  the 
muzzle  toward  their  major-domo,  and  making  as 
though  I  would  discharge  it,  called  out:  "And  you 
big  thief,  who  are  egging  them  on,  I  mean  to  kill 
you  first/'  He  clapped  spurs  to  the  jennet  he  was 
riding,  and  took  flight  headlong.  The  commotion 
we  were  making  stirred  up  all  the  neighbours,  who 
came  crowding  round,  together  with  some  Roman 
gentlemen  who  chanced  to  pass,  and  cried : "  Do  but 
kill  the  renegades,  and  we  will  stand  by  you."  These 
words  had  the  effecl:  of  frightening  the  Spaniards  in 
good  earnest.  They  withdrew,  and  were  compelled 
by  the  circumstances  to  relate  the  whole  affair  to 
Monsignor.  Being  a  man  of  inordinate  haughtiness, 
he  rated  the  members  of  his  household,  both  because 
they  had  engaged  in  such  an  a6l  of  violence,  and 
also  because,  having  begun,  they  had  not  gone 
through  with  it.  At  this  juncture  the  painter,  who 
had  been  concerned  in  the  whole  matter,  came  in, 

C    128    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

and  the  Bishop  bade  him  go  and  tell  me  that  if  I  did 
not  bring  the  vase  at  once,  he  would  make  mince- 
meat of  me;1  but  if  I  brought  it,  he  would  pay  its 
price  down.  These  threats  were  so  far  from  terri- 
fying me,  that  I  sent  him  word  I  was  going  imme- 
diately to  lay  my  case  before  the  Pope. 

In  the  meantime,  his  anger  and  my  fear  subsided ; 
whereupon,  being  guaranteed  by  some  Roman  no- 
blemen of  high  degree  that  the  prelate  would  not 
harm  me,  and  having  assurance  that  I  should  be 
paid,  I  armed  myself  with  a  large  poniard  and  my 
good  coat  of  mail,  and  betook  myself  to  his  palace, 
where  he  had  drawn  up  all  his  household.  I  entered, 
and  Paulino  followed  with  the  silver  vase.  It  was 
just  like  passing  through  the  Zodiac,  neither  more 
nor  less;  for  one  of  them  had  the  face  of  the  lion, 
another  of  the  scorpion,  a  third  of  the  crab.  How- 
ever, we  passed  onward  to  the  presence  of  the  ras- 
cally priest,  who  spouted  out  a  torrent  of  such  lan- 
guage as  only  priests  and  Spaniards  have  at  their 
command.  In  return  I  never  raised  my  eyes  to  look 
at  him,  nor  answered  word  for  word.  That  seemed  to 
augment  the  fury  of  his  anger;  and  causing  paper 
to  be  put  before  me,  he  commanded  me  to  write  an 
acknowledgment  to  the  effecl:  that  I  had  been  amply 
satisfied  and  paid  in  full.  Then  I  raised  my  head, 
and  said  I  should  be  very  glad  to  do  so  when  I  had 
received  the  money.  The  Bishop's  rage  continued  to 
rise;  threats  and  recriminations  were  flung  about;  but 
at  last  the  money  was  paid,  and  I  wrote  the  receipt. 
Then  I  departed,  glad  at  heart  and  in  high  spirits. 

1  Lit.  "  the  largest  piece  left  of  me  should  be  my  ears" 

C  129  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

XXV 

When  Pope  Clement  heard  the  story — he  had  seen 
the  vase  before,  but  it  was  not  shown  him  as  my  work 
— he  expressed  much  pleasure  and  spoke  warmly 
in  my  praise,  publicly  saying  that  he  felt  very  fa- 
vourably toward  me.  This  caused  Monsignor  Sala- 
manca to  repent  that  he  had  he<5lored  over  me ;  and 
in  order  to  make  up  our  quarrel,  he  sent  the  same 
painter  to  inform  me  that  he  meant  to  give  me  large 
commissions.  I  replied  that  I  was  willing  to  under- 
take them,  but  that  I  should  require  to  be  paid  in 
advance.  This  speech  too  came  to  Pope  Clement's 
ears,  and  made  him  laugh  heartily.  Cardinal  Cibo 
was  in  the  presence,  and  the  Pope  narrated  to  him 
the  whole  history  of  my  dispute  with  the  Bishop.1 
Then  he  turned  to  one  of  his  people,  and  ordered 
him  to  go  on  supplying  me  with  work  for  the  palace. 
Cardinal  Cibo  sent  for  me,  and  after  some  time  spent 
in  agreeable  conversation,  gave  me  the  order  for  a 
large  vase,  bigger  than  Salamanca's.  I  likewise  ob- 
tained commissions  from  Cardinal  Cornaro,and  many 
others  of  the  Holy  College,  especially  Ridolfi  and 
Salviati;  they  all  kept  me  well  employed,  so  that  I 
earned  plenty  of  money.2 

Madonna  Porzia  now  advised  me  to  open  a  shop 
of  my  own.  This  I  did;  and  I  never  stopped  work- 

1  Innocenzio  Cibo  Malaspina,  Archbishop  of  Genoa,  and  nephew  of  Lorenzo  de"  Me- 
dici. He  ewas  a  prelate  of  vast  wealth  and  a  great  patron  of  arts  and  letters. 

2  Marco  Cornaro  'was  a  brother  of  Caterina,  the  £%ueen  of  Cyprus.  He  obtained  the 
hat  in  1492.  Niccolb  Ridolfi  'was  a  nephew  of  Leo  X.  Giovanni  Salviati ,  the  son 
of  Jacopo  mentioned  above,  p.  84,  <was  also  a  nephevj  of  Leo  X.,  'who  gave  him 
the  hat  in  1517. 

[   130  ] 


SEBASTIANO      DEL 


T     VII 
PIOMBO  I 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ing  for  that  excellent  and  gentle  lady,  who  paid  me 
exceedingly  well,  and  by  whose  means  perhaps  it 
was  that  I  came  to  make  a  figure  in  the  world. 

I  contracted  close  friendship  with  Signer  Gab- 
briello  Ceserino,  at  that  time  Gonfalonier  of  Rome, 
and  executed  many  pieces  for  him.  One,  among  the 
rest,  is  worthy  of  mention.  It  was  a  large  golden 
medal  to  wear  in  the  hat.  I  engraved  upon  it  Leda 
with  her  swan;  and  being  very  well  pleased  with 
the  workmanship,  he  said  he  should  like  to  have  it 
valued,  in  order  that  I  might  be  properly  paid.  Now, 
since  the  medal  was  executed  with  consummate 
skill,  the  valuers  of  the  trade  set  a  far  higher  price 
on  it  than  he  had  thought  of.  I  therefore  kept  the 
medal,  and  got  nothing  for  my  pains.  The  same 
sort  of  adventures  happened  in  this  case  as  in  that 
of  Salamanca's  vase.  But  I  shall  pass  such  matters 
briefly  by,  lest  they  hinder  me  from  telling  things 
of  greater  importance. 

XXVI 

Since  I  am  writing  my  life,  I  must  from  time  to 
time  diverge  from  my  profession  in  order  to  de- 
scribe with  brevity,  if  not  in  detail,  some  incidents 
which  have  no  bearing  on  my  career  as  artist.  On 
the  morning  of  St.  John's  Day  I  happened  to  be 
dining  with  several  men  of  our  nation,  painters, 
sculptors,  goldsmiths,  amongst  the  most  notable  of 
whom  was  Rosso  and  Gianfrancesco,  the  pupil  of 
Raflfaello.1  I  had  invited  them  without  restraint  or 

1  St.  Johns  Day  cwas  the  great  Florentine  Festival,  on  which  all  the  Guilds  iuent 
in  procession  'with  pageants  through  the  city.  Of  the  Florentine  painter,  II  Rosso, 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ceremony  to  the  place  of  our  meeting;  and  they 
were  all  laughing  and  joking,  as  is  natural  when 
a  crowd  of  men  come  together  to  make  merry  on 
so  great  a  festival.  It  chanced  that  a  light-brained 
swaggering  young  fellow  passed  by ;  he  was  a  sol- 
dier of  Rienzo  da  Ceri,  who,  when  he  heard  the 
noise  that  we  were  making,  gave  vent  to  a  string 
of  opprobrious  sarcasms  upon  the  folk  of  Florence.1 
I,  who  was  the  host  of  those  great  artists  and  men 
of  worth,  taking  the  insult  to  myself,  slipped  out 
quietly  without  being  observed,  and  went  up  to  him. 
I  ought  to  say  that  he  had  a  punk  of  his  there,  and 
was  going  on  with  his  stupid  ribaldries  to  amuse 
her.  When  I  met  him,  I  asked  if  he  was  the  rash 
fellow  who  was  speaking  evil  of  the  Florentines. 
He  answered  at  once:  "I  am  that  man."  On  this  I 
raised  my  hand,  struck  him  in  the  face,  and  said: 
"And  I  am  this  man."  Then  we  each  of  us  drew 
our  swords  with  spirit;  but  the  fray  had  hardly  be- 
gun when  a  crowd  of  persons  intervened,  who  rather 
took  my  part  than  not,  hearing  and  seeing  that  I  was 
in  the  right. 

On  the  following  day  a  challenge  to  fight  with  him 
was  brought  me,  which  I  accepted  very  gladly,  say- 
ing that  I  expected  to  complete  this  job  far  quicker 
than  those  of  the  other  art  I  practised.  So  I  went  at 
once  to  confer  with  a  fine  old  man  called  Bevilacqua, 

or  Maitre  Roux,  this  is  the  first  mention  by  Cellini.  He  went  to  France  in  1534, 
and  died  an  obscure  death  there  in  1541. 

1  This  Rienzo,  Renzo,  or  Lorenzo  da  Ceri,  was  a  captain  of  adventurers  or  Con- 
dottiere,  nvho  hired  his  mercenary  forces  to  paymasters.  He  defended  Crema  for 
the  Venetians  in  1514,  and  conquered  Urbinofor  the  Pope  in  1515.  Afterwards  he 
fought  for  the  French  in  the  Italian  'wars.  We  shall  hear  more  of  him  again 
during  the  sack  of  Rome. 

C  132  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

who  was  reputed  to  have  been  the  first  sword  of 
Italy,  because  he  had  fought  more  than  twenty  seri- 
ous duels  and  had  always  come  off  with  honour. 
This  excellent  man  was  a  great  friend  of  mine ;  he 
knew  me  as  an  artist,  and  had  also  been  concerned 
as  intermediary  in  certain  ugly  quarrels  between 
me  and  others.  Accordingly,  when  he  had  learned 
my  business,  he  answered  with  a  smile :  "  My  Ben- 
venuto,  if  you  had  an  affair  with  Mars,  I  am  sure 
you  would  come  out  with  honour,  because  through 
all  the  years  that  I  have  known  you,  I  have  never 
seen  you  wrongfully  take  up  a  quarrel."  So  he  con- 
sented to  be  my  second,  and  we  repaired  with  sword 
in  hand  to  the  appointed  place;  but  no  blood  was 
shed,  for  my  opponent  made  the  matter  up,  and  I 
came  with  much  credit  out  of  the  affair.1  I  will  not 
add  further  particulars;  for  though  they  would  be 
very  interesting  in  their  own  way,  I  wish  to  keep 
both  space  and  words  for  my  art,  which  has  been 
my  chief  inducement  to  write  as  I  am  doing,  and 
about  which  I  shall  have  only  too  much  to  say. 

The  spirit  of  honourable  rivalry  impelled  me  to 
attempt  some  other  masterpiece,  which  should  equal, 
or  even  surpass,  the  productions  of  that  able  crafts- 
man, Lucagnolo,  whom  I  have  mentioned.  Still  I  did 
not  on  this  account  neglect  my  own  fine  art  of  jew- 
ellery; and  so  both  the  one  and  the  other  wrought 
me  much  profit  and  more  credit,  and  in  both  of  them 
I  continued  to  produce  things  of  marked  originality. 
There  was  at  that  time  in  Rome  a  very  able  artist 

1  The  Italian,  restando  dal  mio  airuersario,  seems  to  mean  that  Cellini  'j  opponent 
proposed  an  accommodation,  apologised,  or  stayed  the  duel  at  a  certain  point. 

[    133   H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

of  Perugia  named  Lautizio,  who  worked  only  in 
one  department,  where  he  was  sole  and  unrivalled 
throughout  the  world.1  You  must  know  that  at  Rome 
every  cardinal  has  a  seal,  upon  which  his  title  is  en- 
graved, and  these  seals  are  made  just  as  large  as 
a  child's  hand  of  about  twelve  years  of  age;  and,  as 
I  have  already  said,  the  cardinal's  title  is  engraved 
upon  the  seal  together  with  a  great  many  ornamen- 
tal figures.  A  well-made  article  of  the  kind  fetches 
a  hundred,  or  more  than  a  hundred  crowns.  This  ex- 
cellent workman,  like  Lucagnolo,  roused  in  me  some 
honest  rivalry,  although  the  art  he  practised  is  far  re- 
mote from  the  other  branches  of  goldsmithery,  and 
consequently  Lautizio  was  not  skilled  in  making  any- 
thing but  seals.  I  gave  my  mind  to  acquiring  his  craft 
also,  although  I  found  it  very  difficult;  and,  unre- 
pelled  by  the  trouble  which  it  gave  me,  I  went  on 
zealously  upon  the  path  of  profit  and  improvement. 
There  was  in  Rome  another  most  excellent  crafts- 
man of  ability,  who  was  a  Milanese  named  Messer 
Caradosso."  He  dealt  in  nothing  but  little  chiselled 
medals,  made  of  plates  of  metal,  and  such-like  things. 
I  have  seen  of  his  some  paxes  in  half  relief,  and  some 
Christs  a  palm  in  length  wrought  of  the  thinnest 
golden  plates,  so  exquisitely  done  that  I  esteemed 
him  the  greatest  master  in  that  kind  I  had  ever  seen, 
and  envied  him  more  than  all  the  rest  together. 
There  were  also  other  masters  who  worked  at  med- 

lSte  Cellini  i  Treatise  Oreficeria,  cap.  <ui.,for  more  particulars  about  this  artist. 
8  His  real  name  'was  Ambrogio  Foppa.  The  nickname  Caradosso  is  said  to  have 
stuck  to  him  in  consequence  of  a  Spaniard  calling  him  Beards-face  in  his  o:wn  tongue. 
He  struck  Leo  A'.'j  coins  ;  and  <we  possess  some  excellent  medallion  portraits  by  his 
hand. 

[   134  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

als  carved  in  steel,  which  may  be  called  the  models 
and  true  guides  for  those  who  aim  at  striking  coins 
in  the  most  perfect  style.  All  these  divers  arts  I  set 
myself  with  unflagging  industry  to  learn. 

I  must  not  omit  the  exquisite  art  of  enamelling, 
in  which  I  have  never  known  any  one  excel  save  a 
Florentine,  our  countryman,  called  Amerigo.1  I  did 
not  know  him,  but  was  well  acquainted  with  his 
incomparable  masterpieces.  Nothing  in  any  part  of 
the  world  or  by  any  craftsman  that. I  have  seen,  ap- 
proached the  divine  beauty  of  their  workmanship. 
To  this  branch  too  I  devoted  myself  with  all  my 
strength,  although  it  is  extremely  difficult,  chiefly 
because  of  the  fire,  which,  after  long  time  and  trouble 
spent  in  other  processes,  has  to  be  applied  at  last,  and 
not  unfrequently  brings  the  whole  to  ruin.  In  spite  of 
its  great  difficulties,  it  gave  me  so  much  pleasure  that 
I  looked  upon  them  as  recreation ;  and  this  came  from 
the  special  gift  which  the  God  of  nature  bestowed 
on  me,  that  is  to  say,  a  temperament  so  happy  and 
of  such  excellent  parts  that  I  was  freely  able  to  ac- 
complish whatever  it  pleased  me  to  take  in  hand.  The 
various  departments  of  art  which  I  have  described 
are  very  different  one  from  the  other,  so  that  a  man 
who  excels  in  one  of  them,  if  he  undertakes  the  others, 
hardly  ever  achieves  the  same  success;  whereas  I 
strove  with  all  my  power  to  become  equally  versed 
in  all  of  them:  and  in  the  proper  place  I  shall  demon- 
strate that  I  attained  my  object. 


'For  Aim,  consult  Cellini  s  Oreficeria. 

[   135 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

XXVII 

At  that  time,  while  I  was  still  a  young  man  of  about 
twenty-three,  there  raged  a  plague  of  such  extraor- 
dinary violence  that  many  thousands  died  of  it  every 
day  in  Rome.  Somewhat  terrified  at  this  calamity,  I 
began  to  take  certain  amusements,  as  my  mind  sug- 
gested, and  for  a  reason  which  I  will  presently  relate. 
I  had  formed  a  habit  of  going  on  feast-days  to  the 
ancient  buildings,  and  copying  parts  of  them  in  wax 
or  with  the  pencil ;  and  since  these  buildings  are  all 
ruins,  and  the  ruins  house  innumerable  pigeons,  it 
came  into  my  head  to  use  my  gun  against  these  birds. 
So  then,  avoiding  all  commerce  with  people,  in  my 
terror  of  the  plague,  I  used  to  put  a  fowling-piece 
on  my  boy  Pagolino's  shoulder,  and  he  and  I  went 
out  alone  into  the  ruins;  and  oftentimes  we  came 
home  laden  with  a  cargo  of  the  fattest  pigeons.  I  did 
not  care  to  charge  my  gun  with  more  than  a  single 
ball ;  and  thus  it  was  by  pure  skill  in  the  art  that  I 
filled  such  heavy  bags.  I  had  a  fowling-piece  which 
I  had  made  myself;  inside  and  out  it  was  as  bright  as 
any  mirror.  I  also  used  to  make  a  very  fine  sort  of 
powder,in  doing  which  I  discovered  secret  processes, 
beyond  any  which  have  yet  been  found ;  and  on  this 
point,  in  order  to  be  brief,  I  will  give  but  one  partic- 
ular, which  will  astonish  good  shots  of  every  degree. 
This  is,  that  when  I  charged  my  gun  with  powder 
weighing  one-fifth  of  the  ball,  it  carried  two  hun- 
dred paces  point-blank.  It  is  true  that  the  great  de- 
light I  took  in  this  exercise  bid  fair  to  withdraw  me 
from  my  art  and  studies ;  yet  in  another  way  it  gave 

C   136  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

me  more  than  it  deprived  me  of,  seeing  that  each  time 
I  went  out  shooting  I  returned  with  greatly  better 
health,  because  the  open  air  was  a  benefit  to  my  con- 
stitution. My  natural  temperament  was  melancholy, 
and  while  I  was  taking  these  amusements,  my  heart 
leapt  up  with  joy,  and  I  found  that  I  could  work  bet- 
ter and  with  far  greater  mastery  than  when  I  spent 
my  whole  time  in  study  and  manual  labour.  In  this 
way  my  gun,  at  the  end  of  the  game,  stood  me  more 
in  profit  than  in  loss. 

It  was  also  the  cause  of  my  making  acquaintance 
with  certain  hunters  after  curiosities,  who  followed 
in  the  track1  of  those  Lombard  peasants  who  used 
to  come  to  Rome  to  till  the  vineyards  at  the  proper 
season.  While  digging  the  ground,  they  frequently 
turned  up  antique  medals,  agates,  chrysoprases,  cor- 
nelians, and  cameos;  also  sometimes  jewels,  as,  for 
instance,  emeralds,  sapphires,  diamonds,  and  rubies. 
The  peasants  used  to  sell  things  of  this  sort  to  the 
traders  for  a  mere  trifle;  and  I  very  often,  when  I 
met  them,  paid  the  latter  several  times  as  many 
golden  crowns  as  they  had  given  giulios  for  some 
object.  Independently  of  the  profit  I  made  by  this 
traffic,  which  was  at  least  tenfold,  it  brought  me 
also  into  agreeable  relations  with  nearly  all  the  car- 
dinals of  Rome.  I  will  only  touch  upon  a  few  of  the 
most  notable  and  rarest  of  these  curiosities.  There 
came  into  my  hands,  among  many  other  fragments, 
the  head  of  a  dolphin  about  as  big  as  a  good-sized 
ballot-bean.  Not  only  was  the  style  of  this  head 
extremely  beautiful,  but  nature  had  here  far  sur- 

1  Stcrvano  alle  <velette.  Perhaps  lay  in  wait  for. 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

passed  art;  for  the  stone  was  an  emerald  of  such 
good  colour,  that  the  man  who  bought  it  from  me 
for  tens  of  crowns  sold  it  again  for  hundreds  after 
setting  it  as  a  finger-ring.  I  will  mention  another 
kind  of  gem ;  this  was  a  magnificent  topaz ;  and  here 
art  equalled  nature ;  it  was  as  large  as  a  big  hazel- 
nut,  with  the  head  of  Minerva  in  a  style  of  incon- 
ceivable beauty.  I  remember  yet  another  precious 
stone,  different  from  these;  it  was  a  cameo,  engraved 
with  Hercules  binding  Cerberus  of  the  triple  throat ; 
such  was  its  beauty  and  the  skill  of  its  workman- 
ship, that  our  great  Michel  Agnolo  protested  he  had 
never  seen  anything  so  wonderful.  Among  many 
bronze  medals,  I  obtained  one  upon  which  was  a 
head  of  Jupiter.  It  was  the  largest  that  had  ever  been 
seen;  the  head  of  the  most  perfect  execution;  and 
it  had  on  the  reverse  side  a  very  fine  design  of  some 
little  figures  in  the  same  style.  I  might  enlarge  at 
great  length  on  this  curiosity ;  but  I  will  refrain  for 
fear  of  being  prolix. 

XXVIII 

As  I  have  said  above,  the  plague  had  broken  out 
in  Rome ;  but  though  I  must  return  a  little  way  upon 
my  steps,  I  shall  not  therefore  abandon  the  main 
path  of  my  history.  There  arrived  in  Rome  a  sur- 
geon of  the  highest  renown,  who  was  called  Maes- 
tro Giacomo  da  Carpi.1  This  able  man,  in  the  course 
of  his  other  practice,  undertook  the  most  desperate 

1  Giacomo  Berengario  da  Carpi  was,  in  fafl,  a  great  physician,  surgeon,  and  stu- 
dent of  anatomy.  He  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  to  use  mercury  in  the  cure  of 
syphilis,  a  disease  'which  was  devastating  Italy  after  the  year  1495.  He  amassed 

I   138   ^ 


cases  of  the  so-called  French  disease.  In  Rome  this 
kind  of  illness  is  very  partial  to  the  priests,  and  es- 
pecially to  the  richest  of  them.  When,  therefore, 
Maestro  Giacomo  had  made  his  talents  known,  he 
professed  to  work  miracles  in  the  treatment  of  such 
cases  by  means  of  certain  fumigations ;  but  he  only 
undertook  a  cure  after  stipulating  for  his  fees,  which 
he  reckoned  not  by  tens,  but  by  hundreds  of  crowns. 
He  was  a  great  connoisseur  in  the  arts  of  design. 
Chancing  to  pass  one  day  before  my  shop,  he  saw 
a  lot  of  drawings  which  I  had  laid  upon  the  coun- 
ter, and  among  these  were  several  designs  for  little 
vases  in  a  capricious  style,  which  I  had  sketched  for 
my  amusement.  These  vases  were  in  quite  a  differ- 
ent fashion  from  any  which  had  been  seen  up  to  that 
date.  He  was  anxious  that  I  should  finish  one  or  two 
of  them  for  him  in  silver ;  and  this  I  did  with  the  fullest 
satisfaction ,  seeing  they  exactly  suited  my  own  fancy. 
The  clever  surgeon  paid  me  very  well,  and  yet  the 
honour  which  the  vases  brought  me  was  worth  a  hun- 
dred times  as  much;  for  the  best  craftsmen  in  the 
goldsmith's  trade  declared  they  had  never  seen  any- 
thing more  beautiful  or  better  executed. 

No  sooner  had  I  finished  them  than  he  showed 
them  to  the  Pope;  and  the  next  day  following  he 
betook  himself  away  from  Rome.  He  was  a  man  of 
much  learning,  who  used  to  discourse  wonderfully 
about  medicine.  The  Pope  would  fain  have  had  him 
in  his  service,  but  he  replied  that  he  would  not  take 
service  with  anybody  in  the  world,  and  that  whoso 

a  large  fortune,  'which,  nvhen  he  died  at  Ferrara  about  1 530,  he  bequeathed  to  the 
Duke  there. 

C    *S9   3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

had  need  of  him  might  come  to  seek  him  out.  He 
was  a  person  of  great  sagacity,  and  did  wisely  to 
get  out  of  Rome;  for  not  many  months  afterwards, 
all  the  patients  he  had  treated  grew  so  ill  that  they 
were  a  hundred  times  worse  off  than  before  he  came. 
He  would  certainly  have  been  murdered  if  he  had 
stopped.  He  showed  my  little  vases  to  several  per- 
sons of  quality ;  amongst  others,  to  the  most  excel- 
lent Duke  of  Ferrara,  and  pretended  that  he  had 
got  them  from  a  great  lord  in  Rome,  by  telling  this 
nobleman  that  if  he  wanted  to  be  cured,  he  must  give 
him  those  two  vases ;  and  that  the  lord  had  answered 
that  they  were  antique,  and  besought  him  to  ask  for 
anything  else  which  it  might  be  convenient  for  him 
to  give,  provided  only  he  would  leave  him  those ; 
but,  according  to  his  own  account,  Maestro  Giacomo 
made  as  though  he  would  not  undertake  the  cure, 
and  so  he  got  them. 

I  was  told  this  by  Messer  Alberto  Bendedio  in 
Ferrara,  who  with  great  ostentation  showed  me  some 
earthenware  copies  he  possessed  of  them.1  There- 
upon I  laughed,  and  as  I  said  nothing,  Messer  Al- 
berto Bendedio,  who  was  a  haughty  man,  flew  into 
a  rage  and  said:  "You  are  laughing  at  them,  are 
you?  And  I  tell  you  that  during  the  last  thousand 
years  there  has  not  been  born  a  man  capable  of  so 
much  as  copying  them."  I  then,  not  caring  to  de- 
prive them  of  so  eminent  a  reputation,  kept  silence, 
and  admired  them  with  mute  stupefaction.  It  was 
said  to  me  in  Rome  by  many  great  lords,  some  of 
whom  were  my  friends,  that  the  work  of  which  I 

1  See  Book  II.  Chap.  <viii.,for  a  full  account  of  this  incident  at  Ferrara. 

C   140  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

have  been  speaking  was,  in  their  opinion,  of  marvel- 
lous excellence  and  genuine  antiquity;  whereupon, 
emboldened  by  their  praises,  I  revealed  that  I  had 
made  them.  As  they  would  not  believe  it,  and  as 
I  wished  to  prove  that  I  had  spoken  truth,  I  was 
obliged  to  bring  evidence  and  to  make  new  draw- 
ings of  the  vases ;  for  my  word  alone  was  not  enough, 
inasmuch  as  Maestro  Giacomo  had  cunningly  in- 
sisted upon  carrying  off  the  old  drawings  with  him. 
By  this  little  job  I  earned  a  fair  amount  of  money. 

XXIX 

The  plague  went  dragging  on  for  many  months, 
but  I  had  as  yet  managed  to  keep  it  at  bay;  for 
though  several  of  my  comrades  were  dead,  I  sur- 
vived in  health  and  freedom.  Now  it  chanced  one 
evening  that  an  intimate  comrade  of  mine  brought 
home  to  supper  a  Bolognese  prostitute  named  Faus- 
tina. She  was  a  very  fine  woman,  but  about  thirty 
years  of  age ;  and  she  had  with  her  a  little  serving- 
girl  of  thirteen  or  fourteen.  Faustina  belonging  to 
my  friend,  I  would  not  have  touched  her  for  all  the 
gold  in  the  world ;  and  though  she  declared  she  was 
madly  in  love  with  me,  I  remained  steadfast  in  my 
loyalty.  But  after  they  had  gone  to  bed,  I  stole  away  ' 
the  little  serving-girl,  who  was  quite  a  fresh  maid, 
and  woe  to  her  if  her  mistress  had  known  of  it! 
The  result  was  that  I  enjoyed  a  very  pleasant  night, 
far  more  to  my  satisfaction  than  if  I  had  passed  it 
with  Faustina.  I  rose  upon  the  hour  of  breaking  fast, 
and  felt  tired,  for  I  had  travelled  many  miles  that 
night,  and  was  wanting  to  take  food,  when  a  crush- 

[   141    J 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ing  headache  seized  me;  several  boils  appeared  on 
my  left  arm,  together  with  a  carbuncle  which  showed 
itself  just  beyond  the  palm  of  the  left  hand  where 
it  joins  the  wrist.  Everybody  in  the  house  was  in  a 
panic;  my  friend,  the  cow  and  the  calf,  all  fled.  Left 
alone  there  with  my  poor  little  prentice,  who  refused 
to  abandon  me,  I  felt  stifled  at  the  heart,  and  made  up 
my  mind  for  certain  I  was  a  dead  man. 

Just  then  the  father  of  the  lad  went  by,  who  was 
physician  to  the  Cardinal  lacoacci,'  and  lived  as 
member  of  that  prelate's  household.2  The  boy  called 
out:  "Come,  father,  and  see  Benvenuto;  he  is  in 
bed  with  some  trifling  indisposition/'  Without  think- 
ing what  my  complaint  might  be,  the  do6lor  came 
up  at  once,  and  when  he  had  felt  my  pulse,  he  saw 
and  felt  what  was  very  contrary  to  his  own  wishes. 
Turning  round  to  his  son,  he  said:  "O  traitor  of  a 
child,  you've  ruined  me;  how  can  I  venture  now 
into  the  Cardinal's  presence?"  His  son  made  an- 
swer: "Why,  father,  this  man  my  master  is  worth 
far  more  than  all  the  cardinals  in  Rome."  Then  the 
do6lor  turned  to  me  and  said:  "Since  I  am  here,  I 
will  consent  to  treat  you.  But  of  one  thing  only  I 
warn  you,  that  if  you  have  enjoyed  a  woman,  you 
•are  doomed."  To  this  I  replied:  "I  did  so  this  very 
night."  He  answered:  "With  whom,  and  to  what 
extent?"3 1  said: "Last  night,  and  with  a  girl  in  her 
earliest  maturity."  Upon  this,  perceiving  that  he  had 
spoken  foolishly,  he  made  haste  to  add:  "Well,  con- 

1  Probably  Domenico  lacobacci,  nuho  obtained  the  hat  in  151 7. 

a  A  sua  prwisione  starva,  i.e.,  he  was  in  the  Cardinal's  regular  pay. 

J  Quanta.  Perhaps  vve  ought  to  read  quando — nuhen? 

C  142  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

sidering  the  sores  are  so  new,  and  have  not  yet  be- 
gun to  stink,  and  that  the  remedies  will  be  taken  in 
time,  you  need  not  be  too  much  afraid,  for  I  have 
good  hopes  of  curing  you."  When  he  had  prescribed 
for  me  and  gone  away,  a  very  dear  friend  of  mine, 
called  Giovanni  Rigogli,  came  in,  who  fell  to  com- 
miserating my  great  suffering  and  also  my  desertion 
by  my  comrade,  and  said:  "Be  of  good  cheer,  my 
Benvenuto,  for  I  will  never  leave  your  side  until  I 
see  you  restored  to  health/'  I  told  him  not  to  come 
too  close,  since  it  was  all  over  with  me.  Only  I  be- 
sought him  to  be  so  kind  as  to  take  a  considerable 
quantity  of  crowns,  which  were  lying  in  a  little  box 
near  my  bed,  and  when  God  had  thought  fit  to  re- 
move me  from  this  world,  to  send  them  to  my  poor 
father,  writing  pleasantly  to  him,  in  the  way  I  too 
had  done,  so  far  as  that  appalling  season  of  the  plague 
permitted.1  My  beloved  friend  declared  that  he  had 
no  intention  whatsoever  of  leaving  me,  and  that  come 
what  might,  in  life  or  death,  he  knew  very  well  what 
was  his  duty  toward  a  friend.  And  so  we  went  on 
by  the  help  of  God:  and  the  admirable  remedies 
which  I  had  used  began  to  work  a  great  improve- 
ment, and  I  soon  came  well  out  of  that  dreadful 
sickness. 

The  sore  was  still  open,  with  a  plug  of  lint  inside 
it  and  a  plaster  above,  when  I  went  out  riding  on  a 
little  wild  pony.  He  was  covered  with  hair  four  fin- 

1  Come  ancora  io  a<vecvo  fatto  secondo  Vusanza  che  promettava  quelT  arrabbiata 
stagione.  I  am  not  sure  that  I  have  given  the  right  sense  in  the  text  above.  Le- 
clanche  interprets  the  words  thus :  "  that  I  too  had  fared  according  to  the  ivont  of 
that  appalling  season"  i.e.,  had  died  of  the  plague.  But  I  think  the  version  in  my 
sense  is  more  true  both  to  Italian  and  to  Cellini" s  special  style.  . 

C    143   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

gers  long,  and  was  exa&ly  as  big  as  a  well-grown 
bear;  indeed  he  looked  just  like  a  bear.  I  rode  out 
on  him  to  visit  the  painter  Rosso,  who  was  then  liv- 
ing in  the  country,  toward  Civita  Vecchia,  at  a  place 
of  Count  Anguillara's,  called  Cervetera.  I  found  my 
friend,  and  he  was  very  glad  to  see  me;  whereupon 
I  said:  " I  am  come  to  do  to  you  that  which  you  did 
to  me  so  many  months  ago."  He  burst  out  laugh- 
ing, embraced  and  kissed  me,  and  begged  me  for 
the  Count's  sake  to  keep  quiet.  I  stayed  in  that  place 
about  a  month,  with  much  content  and  gladness,  en- 
joying good  wines  and  excellent  food,  and  treated 
with  the  greatest  kindness  by  the  Count ;  every  day 
I  used  to  ride  out  alone  along  the  seashore,  where 
I  dismounted,  and  filled  my  pockets  with  all  sorts  of 
pebbles,  snail  shells,  and  sea  shells  of  great  rarity 
and  beauty. 

On  the  last  day  (for  after  this  I  went  there  no 
more)  I  was  attacked  by  a  band  of  men,  who  had 
disguised  themselves, and  disembarked  from  a  Moor- 
ish privateer.  When  they  thought  that  they  had  run 
me  into  a  certain  passage,  where  it  seemed  impossi- 
ble that  I  should  escape  from  their  hands,  I  suddenly 
mounted  my  pony,  resolved  to  be  roasted  or  boiled 
alive  at  that  pass  perilous,  seeing  I  had  little  hope  to 
evade  one  or  the  other  of  these  fates ; '  but,  as  God 
willed,  my  pony,  who  was  the  same  I  have  described 
above,  took  an  incredibly  wide  jump,  and  brought 
me  off  in  safety,  for  which  I  heartily  thanked  God. 
I  told  the  story  to  the  Count ;  he  ran  to  arms ;  but 
we  saw  the  galleys  setting  out  to  sea.  The  next  day 

1  i.e.,  to  escape  either  being  drowned  or  shot. 

C   144  ] 


GIULIO    ROMANO 
(BY  HIMSELF) 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

following  I  went  back  sound  and  with  good  cheer 
to  Rome. 

XXX 

The  plague  had  by  this  time  almost  died  out,  so  that 
the  survivors,  when  they  met  together  alive,  rejoiced 
with  much  delight  in  one  another's  company.  This 
led  to  the  formation  of  a  club  of  painters,  sculptors, 
and  goldsmiths,  the  best  that  were  in  Rome ;  and  the 
founder  of  it  was  a  sculptor  with  the  name  of  Michel 
Agnolo.1  He  was  a  Sienese  and  a  man  of  great  ability, 
who  could  hold  his  own  against  any  other  workman 
in  that  art;  but,  above  all,  he  was  the  most  amusing 
comrade  and  the  heartiest  good  fellow  in  the  uni- 
verse. Of  all  the  members  of  the  club,  he  was  the 
eldest,  and  yet  the  youngest  from  the  strength  and 
vigour  of  his  body.  We  often  came  together;  at  the 
very  least  twice  a  week.  I  must  not  omit  to  mention 
that  our  society  counted  Giulio  Romano,  the  painter, 
and  Gian  Francesco,  both  of  them  celebrated  pupils 
of  the  mighty  Raffaello  da  Urbino. 

After  many  and  many  merry  meetings,  it  seemed 
good  to  our  worthy  president  that  for  the  follow- 
ing Sunday  we  should  repair  to  supper  in  his  house, 
and  that  each  one  of  us  should  be  obliged  to  bring 
with  him  his  crow  ( such  was  the  nickname  Michel 
Agnolo  gave  to  women  in  the  club ) ,  and  that  whoso 
did  not  bring  one  should  be  sconced  by  paying  a 
supper  to  the  whole  company.  Those  of  us  who  had 

1  This  sculptor  came  to  Rome  'with  his  compatriot  Baldassare  Peruzzi,  and  nuas 
employed  upon  the  monument  of  Pope  Adrian  71.,  'which  he  executed  'with  some 
help  from  Tribolo. 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

no  familiarity  with  women  of  the  town,  were  forced 
to  purvey  themselves  at  no  small  trouble  and  ex- 
pense, in  order  to  appear  without  disgrace  at  that 
distinguished  feast  of  artists.  I  had  reckoned  upon 
being  well  provided  with  a  young  woman  of  consid- 
erable beauty,  called  Pantasilea,  who  was  very  much 
in  love  with  me ;  but  I  was  obliged  to  give  her  up  to 
one  of  my  dearest  friends,  called  II  Bachiacca,  who 
on  his  side  had  been,  and  still  was,  over  head  and 
ears  in  love  with  her.1  This  exchange  excited  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  lover's  anger,  because  the  lady,  see- 
ing I  had  abandoned  her  at  Bachiacca 's  first  entreaty, 
imagined  that  I  held  in  slight  esteem  the  great  affec- 
tion which  she  bore  me.  In  course  of  time  a  very 
serious  incident  grew  out  of  this  misunderstanding, 
through  her  desire  to  take  revenge  for  the  affront  I 
had  put  upon  her ;  whereof  I  shall  speak  hereafter 
in  the  proper  place. 

Well,  then,  the  hour  was  drawing  nigh  when  we 
had  to  present  ourselves  before  that  company  of  men 
of  genius,  each  with  his  own  crow ;  and  I  was  still  un- 
provided; and  yet  I  thought  it  would  be  stupid  to 
fail  of  such  a  madcap  bagatelle  ;3  but  what  particularly 
weighed  upon  my  mind  was  that  I  did  not  choose  to 
lend  the  light  of  my  countenance  in  that  illustrious 
sphere  to  some  miserable  plume-plucked  scarecrow. 
All  these  considerations  made  me  devise  a  pleasant 

1  There  'were  two  artists  at  this  epoch  sur named  Bachiacca,  the  tnuin  sons  ofUber- 
tino  Verdi,  called  respectively  Francesco  and  Antonio.  Francesco  <was  an  excellent 
painter  of  miniature  oil-piclures  ;  Antonio  the  first  embroiderer  of  his  age.  The  one 
alluded  to  here  is  probably  Francesco. 

2  Mancare  di  una  si  pazza  cosa.  The  pazza  cosa  may  be  the  supper-party  or  the 
cornacchia. 

146  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

trick,  for  the  increase  of  merriment  and  the  diffusion 
of  mirth  in  our  society. 

Having  taken  this  resolve,  I  sent  for  a  stripling  of 
sixteen  years,  who  lived  in  the  next  house  to  mine; 
he  was  the  son  of  a  Spanish  coppersmith.  This  young 
man  gave  his  time  to  Latin  studies,  and  was  very 
diligent  in  their  pursuit.  He  bore  the  name  of  Diego, 
had  a  handsome  figure,  and  a  complexion  of  mar- 
vellous brilliancy ;  the  outlines  of  his  head  and  face 
were  far  more  beautiful  than  those  of  the  antique 
Antinous:  I  had  often  copied  them,  gaining  thereby 
much  honour  from  the  works  in  which  I  used  them. 
The  youth  had  no  acquaintances,  and  was  therefore 
quite  unknown ;  dressed  very  ill  and  negligently ;  all 
his  affections  being  set  upon  those  wonderful  stud- 
ies of  his.  After  bringing  him  to  my  house,  I  begged 
him  to  let  me  array  him  in  the  woman's  clothes  which 
I  had  caused  to  be  laid  out.  He  readily  complied,  and 
put  them  on  at  once,  while  I  added  new  beauties  to 
the  beauty  of  his  face  by  the  elaborate  and  studied 
way  in  which  I  dressed  his  hair.  In  his  ears  I  placed 
two  little  rings,  set  with  two  large  and  fair  pearls ; 
the  rings  were  broken ;  they  only  clipped  his  ears, 
which  looked  as  though  they  had  been  pierced.  After- 
wards I  wreathed  his  throat  with  chains  of  gold  and 
rich  jewels,  and  ornamented  his  fair  hands  with  rings. 
Then  I  took  him  in  a  pleasant  manner  by  one  ear, 
and  drew  him  before  a  great  looking-glass.  The  lad, 
when  he  beheld  himself,  cried  out  with  a  burst  of 
enthusiasm : "  Heavens !  is  that  Diego  ? "  I  said : "  That 
is  Diego,  from  whom  until  this  day  I  never  asked  for 
any  kind  of  favour;  but  now  I  only  beseech  Diego 

C   147  D 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

to  do  me  pleasure  in  one  harmless  thing;  and  it  is 
this — I  want  him  to  come  in  those  very  clothes  to 
supper  with  the  company  of  artists  whereof  he  has 
often  heard  me  speak/'  The  young  man,  who  was 
honest,  virtuous,  and  wise,  checked  his  enthusiasm, 
bent  his  eyes  to  the  ground,  and  stood  for  a  short 
while  in  silence.  Then  with  a  sudden  move  he  lifted 
up  his  face  and  said:  "With  Benvenuto  I  will  go; 
now  let  us  start." 

I  wrapped  his  head  in  a  large  kind  of  napkin, 
which  is  called  in  Rome  a  summer-cloth ;  and  when 
we  reached  the  place  of  meeting,  the  company  had 
already  assembled,  and  everybody  came  forward  to 
greet  me.  Michel  Agnolo  had  placed  himself  between 
Giulio  and  Giovan  Francesco.  I  lifted  the  veil  from 
the  head  of  my  beauty ;  and  then  Michel  Agnolo,  who, 
as  I  have  already  said,  was  the  most  humorous  and 
amusing  fellow  in  the  world,  laid  his  two  hands,  the 
one  on  Giulio's  and  the  other  on  Gian  Francesco's 
shoulders,  and  pulling  them  with  all  his  force,  made 
them  bow  down,  while  he,  on  his  knees  upon  the  floor, 
cried  out  for  mercy, and  called  to  all  the  folk  in  words 
like  these:  "Behold  ye  of  what  sort  are  the  angels 
of  paradise  !  for  though  they  are  called  angels,  here 
shall  ye  see  that  they  are  not  all  of  the  male  gender." 
Then  with  a  loud  voice  he  added: 

"  Angel  beauteous,  angel  best, 
Save  me thou,  make  thou  me  blest" 

Upon  this  my  charming  creature  laughed,  and  lifted 
the  right  hand  and  gave  him  a  papal  benediction, 
with  many  pleasant  words  to  boot.  So  Michel  Ag- 

148 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

nolo  stood  up,  and  said  it  was  the  custom  to  kiss 
the  feet  of  the  Pope  and  the  cheeks  of  angels ;  and 
having  done  the  latter  to  Diego,  the  boy  blushed 
deeply,  which  immensely  enhanced  his  beauty. 

When  this  reception  was  over,  we  found  the 
whole  room  full  of  sonnets,  which  every  man  of  us 
had  made  and  sent  to  Michel  Agnolo.  My  lad  be- 
gan to  read  them,  and  read  them  all  aloud  so  grace- 
fully, that  his  infinite  charms  were  heightened  be- 
yond the  powers  of  language  to  describe.  Then  fol- 
lowed conversation  and  witty  sayings,  on  which  I  will 
not  enlarge,  for  that  is  not  my  business;  only  one 
clever  word  must  be  mentioned,  for  it  was  spoken  by 
that  admirable  painter  Giulio,  who,  looking  round  with 
meaning '  in  his  eyes  on  the  bystanders,  and  fixing 
them  particularly  upon  the  women,  turned  to  Michel 
Agnolo  and  said:"  My  dear  Michel  Agnolo,  your  nick- 
name of  crow  very  well  suits  those  ladies  to-day, 
though  I  vow  they  are  somewhat  less  fair  than  crows 
by  the  side  of  one  of  the  most  lovely  peacocks  which 
fancy  could  have  painted." 

When  the  banquet  was  served  and  ready,  and  we 
were  going  to  sit  down  to  table,  Giulio  asked  leave 
to  be  allowed  to  place  us.  This  being  granted,  he  took 
the  women  by  the  hand,  and  arranged  them  all  upon 
the  inner  side,  with  my  fair  in  the  centre ;  then  he 
placed  all  the  men  on  the  outside  and  me  in  the 
middle,  saying  there  was  no  honour  too  great  for 
my  deserts.  As  a  background  to  the  women,  there 
was  spread  an  espalier  of  natural  jasmines  in  full 

1  Virtuosamente.  Cellini  uses  the  word  'virtuoso  in  many  senses,  but  akways  more 
ivitA  reference  to  intellectual  than  moral  qualities.  It  denotes  genius,  artistic  abil- 
ity, masculine  force,  Sfr . 

[   149  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

beauty,1  which  set  off  their  charms,  and  especially 
Diego's,  to  such  great  advantage,  that  words  would 
fail  to  describe  the  effect.  Then  we  all  of  us  fell  to 
enjoying  the  abundance  of  our  host's  well-furnished 
table.  The  supper  was  followed  oy  a  short  concert  of 
delightful  music,  voices  joining  in  harmony  with  in- 
struments ;  and  forasmuch  as  they  were  singing  and 
playing  from  the  book,  my  beauty  begged  to  be  al- 
lowed to  sing  his  part.  He  performed  the  music  bet- 
ter than  almost  all  the  rest,  which  so  astonished  the 
company  that  Giulio  and  Michel  Agnolo  dropped  their 
earlier  tone  of  banter,  exchanging  it  for  well- weighed 
terms  of  sober  heartfelt  admiration. 

After  the  music  was  over,  a  certain  Aurelio  As- 
colano,2  remarkable  for  his  gift  as  an  improvisatory 
poet,  began  to  extol  the  women  in  choice  phrases 
of  exquisite  compliment.  While  he  was  chanting, 
the  two  girls  who  had  my  beauty  between  them 
never  left  off  chattering.  One  of  them  related  how 
she  had  gone  wrong ;  the  other  asked  mine  how  it 
had  happened  with  her,  and  who  were  her  friends, 
and  how  long  she  had  been  settled  in  Rome,  and 
many  other  questions  of  the  kind.  It  is  true  that,  if 
I  chose  to  describe  such  laughable  episodes,  I  could 
relate  several  odd  things  which  then  occurred 
through  Pantasilea's  jealousy  on  my  account;  but 
since  they  form  no  part  of  my  design,  I  pass  them 
briefly  over.  At  last  the  conversation  of  those  loose 
women  vexed  my  beauty,  whom  we  had  christened 

1  Un  tessuto  di  gelsumini  naturali  e  bellissimi.  Tessuto  is  properly  something  woven, 
a  fabric ;  and  I  am  not  sure  'whether  Cellini  does  not  mean  that  the  ladies  had 
behind  their  backs  a  tapestry  representing  jasmines  in  a  natural  manner. 
3  Probably  Eurialo  d'Ascoli,  a  friend  ofCaro,  Molza,  Aretino. 

C   150  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Pomona  for  the  nonce;  and  Pomona,  wanting  to 
escape  from  their  silly  talk,  turned  restlessly  upon 
her  chair,  first  to  one  side  and  then  to  the  other. 
The  female  brought  by  Giulio  asked  whether  she 
felt  indisposed.  Pomona  answered,  yes,  she  thought 
she  was  a  month  or  so  with  child ;  this  gave  them 
the  opportunity  of  feeling  her  body  and  discovering 
the  real  sex  of  the  supposed  woman.  Thereupon 
they  quickly  withdrew  their  hands  and  rose  from 
table,  uttering  such  gibing  words  as  are  commonly 
addressed  to  young  men  of  eminent  beauty.  The 
whole  room  rang  with  laughter  and  astonishment, 
in  the  midst  of  which  Michel  Agnolo,  assuming  a 
fierce  aspecl,  called  out  for  leave  to  inflicl:  on  me 
the  penance  he  thought  fit.  When  this  was  granted, 
he  lifted  me  aloft  amid  the  clamour  of  the  company, 
crying:  "Long  live  the  gentleman!  long  live  the 
gentleman ! "  and  added  that  this  was  the  punish- 
ment I  deserved  for  having  played  so  fine  a  trick. 
Thus  ended  that  most  agreeable  supper-party,  and 
each  of  us  returned  to  his  own  dwelling  at  the  close 
of  day. 

/ 

XXXI 

It  would  take  too  long  to  describe  in  detail  all  the 
many  and  divers  pieces  of  work  which  I  executed  for 
a  great  variety  of  men.  At  present  I  need  only  say 
that  I  devoted  mysellf  with  sustained  diligence  and 
industry  to  acquiring  mastery  in  the  several  branches 
of  art  which  I  enumerated  a  short  while  back.  And 
so  I  went  on  labouring  incessantly  at  all  of  them ; 
but  since  no  opportunity  has  presented  itself  as  yet 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

for  describing  my  most  notable  performances,  I  shall 
wait  to  report  them  in  their  proper  place  before  very 
long.  The  Sienese  sculptor,  Michel  Agnolo,of  whom 
I  have  recently  been  speaking,  was  at  that  time  mak- 
ing the  monument  of  the  late  Pope  Adrian.  Giulio 
Romano  went  to  paint  for  the  Marquis  of  Mantua. 
The  other  members  of  the  club  betook  themselves 
in  different  directions,  each  to  his  own  business;  so 
that  our  company  of  artists  was  well-nigh  altogether 
broken  up. 

About  this  time  there  fell  into  my  hands  some  little 
Turkish  poniards;  the  handle  as  well  as  the  blade  of 
these  daggers  was  made  of  iron,  and  so  too  was  the 
sheath.  They  were  engraved  by  means  of  iron  im- 
plements with  foliage  in  the  most  exquisite  Turkish 
style,  very  neatly  filled  in  with  gold.  The  sight  of 
them  stirred  in  me  a  great  desire  to  try  my  own 
skill  in  that  branch,  so  different  from  the  others  which 
I  practised ;  and  finding  that  I  succeeded  to  my  sat- 
isfaction, I  executed  several  pieces.  Mine  were  far 
more  beautiful  and  more  durable  than  the  Turkish, 
and  this  for  divers  reasons.  One  was  that  I  cut  my 
grooves  much  deeper  and  with  wider  trenches  in  the 
steel ;  for  this  is  not  usual  in  Turkish  work.  Another 
was  that  the  Turkish  arabesques  are  only  composed 
of  arum  leaves  with  a  few  small  sunflowers;1  and 
though  these  have  a  certain  grace,  they  do  not  yield 
so  lasting  a  pleasure  as  the  patterns  which  we  use. 
It  is  true  that  in  Italy  we  have  several  different  ways 
of  designing  foliage;  the  Lombards,  for  example, 
construct  very  beautiful  patterns  by  copying  the 

1  Gichero,  arum  maculatum,  and  clizia,  the  sunflower. 

152 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

leaves  of  briony  and  ivy  in  exquisite  curves,  which 
are  extremely  agreeable  to  the  eye;  the  Tuscans 
and  the  Romans  make  a  better  choice,  because  they 
imitate  the  leaves  of  the  acanthus,  commonly  called 
bear's-foot,  with  its  stalks  and  flowers,  curling  in 
divers  wavy  lines;  and  into  these  arabesques  one 
may  excellently  well  insert  the  figures  of  little  birds 
and  different  animals,  by  which  the  good  taste  of 
the  artist  is  displayed.  Some  hints  for  creatures  of 
this  sort  can  be  observed  in  nature  among  the  wild 
flowers,  as,  for  instance,  in  snapdragons  and  some 
few  other  plants,  which  must  be  combined  and  devel- 
oped with  the  help  of  fanciful  imaginings  by  clever 
draughtsmen.  Such  arabesques  are  called  grotesques 
by  the  ignorant.  They  have  obtained  this  name  of 
grotesques  among  the  moderns  through  being  found 
in  certain  subterranean  caverns  in  Rome  by  stu- 
dents of  antiquity;  which  caverns  were  formerly 
chambers,  hot-baths,  cabinets  for  study,  halls,  and 
apartments  of  like  nature.  The  curious  discovering 
them  in  such  places  ( since  the  level  of  the  ground 
has  gradually  been  raised  while  they  have  remained 
below ,  and  since  in  Rome  these  vaulted  rooms  are  com- 
monly called  grottoes  ),  it  has  followed  that  the  word 
grotesque  is  applied  to  the  patterns  I  have  mentioned. 
But  this  is  not  the  right  term  for  them,  inasmuch  as 
the  ancients,  who  delighted  in  composing  monsters 
out  of  goats,  cows,  and  horses,  called  these  chimeri- 
cal hybrids  by  the  name  of  monsters ;  and  the  mod- 
ern artificers  of  whom  I  spoke,  fashioned  from  the 
foliage  which  they  copied  monsters  of  like  nature; 
for  these  the  proper  name  is  therefore  monsters,  and 

C   153  D 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

not  grotesques.  Well,  then,  I  designed  patterns  of 
this  kind,  and  filled  them  in  with  gold,  as  I  have  men- 
tioned ;  and  they  were  far  more  pleasing  to  the  eye 
than  the  Turkish. 

It  chanced  at  that  time  that  I  lighted  upon  some 
jars  or  little  antique  urns  filled  with  ashes,  and  among 
the  ashes  were  some  iron  rings  inlaid  with  gold  ( for 
the  ancients  also  used  that  art),  and  in  each  of  the 
rings  was  set  a  tiny  cameo  of  shell.  On  applying  to 
men  of  learning,  they  told  me  that  these  rings  were 
worn  as  amulets  by  folk  desirous  of  abiding  with 
mind  unshaken  in  any  extraordinary  circumstance, 
whether  of  good  or  evil  fortune.  Hereupon,  at  the 
request  of  certain  noblemen  who  were  my  friends, 
I  undertook  to  fabricate  some  trifling  rings  of  this 
kind ;  but  I  made  them  of  refined  steel ;  and  after 
they  had  been  well  engraved  and  inlaid  with  gold, 
they  produced  a  very  beautiful  effect ;  and  sometimes 
a  single  ring  brought  me  more  than  forty  crowns, 
merely  in  payment  for  my  labour. 

It  was  the  custom  at  that  epoch  to  wear  little 
golden  medals,  upon  which  every  nobleman  or  man 
of  quality  had  some  device  or  fancy  of  his  own  en- 
graved ;  and  these  were  worn  in  the  cap.  Of  such 
pieces  I  made  very  many,  and  found  them  extremely 
difficult  to  work.  I  have  already  mentioned  the  ad- 
mirable craftsman  Caradosso,  who  used  to  make  such 
ornaments ;  and  as  there  were  more  than  one  figure 
on  each  piece,  he  asked  at  least  a  hundred  gold 
crowns  for  his  fee.  This-being  so — not,  however,  be- 
cause his  prices  were  so  high,  but  because  he  worked 
so  slowly — I  began  to  be  employed  by  certain  no- 
li *54  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

blemen,  for  whom,  among  other  things,  I  made  a 
medal  in  competition  with  that  great  artist,  and  it 
had  four  figures,  upon  which  I  had  expended  an  in- 
finity of  labour.  These  men  of  quality,  when  they 
compared  my  piece  with  that  of  the  famous  Cara- 
dosso,  declared  that  mine  was  by  far  the  better  exe- 
cuted and  more  beautiful,  and  bade  me  ask  what 
I  liked  as  the  reward  of  my  trouble ;  for  since  I  had 
given  them  such  perfe6l  satisfaction,  they  wished 
to  do  the  like  by  me.  I  replied  that  my  greatest  re- 
ward and  what  I  most  desired  was  to  have  rivalled  the 
masterpieces  of  so  eminent  an  artist ;  and  that  if  their 
lordships  thought  I  had,  I  acknowledged  myself  to 
be  most  amply  rewarded.  With  this  I  took  my  leave, 
and  they  immediately  sent  me  such  a  very  liberal 
present,  that  I  was  well  content ;  indeed  there  grew 
in  me  so  great  a  spirit  to  do  well,  that  to  this  event 
I  attribute  what  will  afterwards  be  related  of  my 
progress. 

XXXII 

I  shall  be  obliged  to  digress  a  little  from  the  history 
of  my  art,  unless  I  were  to  omit  some  annoying  in- 
cidents which  have  happened  in  the  course  of  my 
troubled  career.  One  of  these,  which  I  am  about  to 
describe,  brought  me  into  the  greatest  risk  of  my  life. 
I  have  already  told  the  story  of  the  artists'  club,  and 
of  the  farcical  adventures  which  happened  owing  to 
the  woman  whom  I  mentioned,  Pantasilea,  the  one 
who  felt  for  me  that  false  and  fulsome  love.  She  was 
furiously  enraged  because  of  the  pleasant  trick  by 
which  I  brought  Diego  to  our  banquet,  and  she  swore 

C   155   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

to  be  revenged  on  me.  How  she  did  so  is  mixed  up 
with  the  history  of  a  young  man  called  Luigi  Pulci, 
who  had  recently  come  to  Rome.  He  was  the  son  of 
one  of  the  Pulcis,  who  had  been  beheaded  for  incest 
with  his  daughter ;  and  the  youth  possessed  extraor- 
dinary gifts  for  poetry  together  with  sound  Latin 
scholarship ;  he  wrote  well,  was  graceful  in  manners, 
and  of  surprising  personal  beauty;  he  had  just  left 
the  service  of  some  bishop,  whose  name  I  do  not 
remember,  and  was  thoroughly  tainted  with  a  very 
foul  disease.  While  he  was  yet  a  lad  and  living  in 
Florence,  they  used  in  certain  places  of  the  city  to 
meet  together  during  the  nights  of  summer  on  the 
public  streets;  and  he,  ranking  among  the  best  of 
the  improvisator!,  sang  there.  His  recitations  were 
so  admirable,  that  the  divine  Michel  Agnolo  Buonar- 
roti, that  prince  of  sculptors  and  of  painters,  went, 
wherever  he  heard  that  he  would  be,  with  the  greatest 
eagerness  and  delight  to  listen  to  him.  There  was  a 
man  called  Piloto,agoldsmith,very  ablein  his  art,  who, 
together  with  myself,  joined  Buonarroti  upon  these 
occasions.1  Thus  acquaintance  sprang  up  between 
me  and  Luigi  Pulci;  and  so,  after  the  lapse  of  many 
years,  he  came,  in  the  miserable  plight  which  I  have 
mentioned,  to  make  himself  known  to  me  again  in 
Rome,  beseeching  me  for  God's  sake  to  help  him. 
Moved  to  compassion  by  his  great  talents,  by  the 
love  of  my  fatherland,  and  by  my  own  natural  ten- 

1  Piloto,  of  'whom  we  shall  hear  more  hereafter,  <was  a  prominent  figure  in  the 
Florentine  society  of  artists,  and  a  celebrated  practical  joker.  Vasari  says  that  a 
young  man  of  'whom  he  had  spoken  ill  murdered  him.  Lascars  Novellf,  Le  Cene, 
should  be  studied  by  those  who  seek  an  insight  into  this  curious  Bohemia  of  the 
sixteenth  century. 

C   156  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

derness  of  heart,  I  took  him  into  my  house,  and  had 
him  medically  treated  in  such  wise  that,  being  but 
a  youth,  he  soon  regained  his  health.  While  he  was 
still  pursuing  his  cure,  he  never  omitted  his  studies, 
and  I  provided  him  with  books  according  to  the 
means  at  my  disposal.  The  result  was  that  Luigi, 
recognising  the  great  benefits  he  had  received  from 
me,  oftentimes  with  words  and  tears  returned  me 
thanks,  protesting  that  if  God  should  ever  put  good 
fortune  in  his  way,  he  would  recompense  me  for  my 
kindness.  To  this  I  replied  that  I  had  not  done  for 
him  as  much  as  I  desired,  but  only  what  I  could,  and 
that  it  was  the  duty  of  human  beings  to  be  mutually 
serviceable.  Only  I  suggested  that  he  should  repay 
the  service  I  had  rendered  him  by  doing  likewise  to 
some  one  who  might  have  the  same  need  of  him  as 
he  had  had  of  me. 

The  young  man  in  question  began  to  frequent 
the  Court  of  Rome,  where  he  soon  found  a  situation, 
and  enrolled  himself  in  the  suite  of  a  bishop,  a  man 
of  eighty  years,  who  bore  the  title  of  Gurgensis.1 
This  bishop  had  a  nephew  called  Messer  Giovanni: 
he  was  a  nobleman  of  Venice ;  and  the  said  Messer 
Giovanni  made  show  of  marvellous  attachment  to 
Luigi  Pulci's  talents;  and  under  the  pretence  of 
these  talents,  he  brought  him  as  familiar  to  himself 
as  his  own  flesh  and  blood.  Luigi  having  talked  of 
me,  and  of  his  great  obligations  to  me,  with  Messer 
Giovanni,  the  latter  expressed  a  wish  to  make  my 
acquaintance.  Thus  then  it  came  to  pass,  that  when 
I  had  upon  a  certain  evening  invited  that  woman 

1  Girolamo  Balbo,  of  the  noble  Venetian  family,  Bishop  of  Gurck,  in  Carinthia. 

C  1573 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Pantasilea  to  supper,  and  had  assembled  a  company 
of  men  of  parts  who  were  my  friends,  just  at  the 
moment  of  our  sitting  down  to  table,  Messer  Gio- 
vanni and  Luigi  Pulci  arrived,  and  after  some  com- 
plimentary speeches,  they  both  remained  to  sup 
with  us.  The  shameless  strumpet,  casting  her  eyes 
upon  the  young  man's  beauty,  began  at  once  to  lay 
her  nets  for  him;  perceiving  which,  when  the  sup- 
per had  come  to  an  agreeable  end,  I  took  Luigi 
aside,  and  conjured  him,  by  the  benefits  he  said  he 
owed  me,  to  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  her. 
To  this  he  answered:  "Good  heavens,  Benvenuto! 
do  you  then  take  me  for  a  madman?"  I  rejoined: 
"Not  for  a  madman,  but  for  a  young  fellow;"  and 
I  swore  to  him  by  God:  "I  do  not  give  that  woman 
the  least  thought;  but  for  your  sake  I  should  be 
sorry  if  through  her  you  came  to  break  your  neck." 
Upon  these  words  he  vowed  and  prayed  to  God, 
that,  if  ever  he  but  spoke  with  her,  he  might  upon 
the  moment  break  his  neck.  I  think  the  poor  lad 
swore  this  oath  to  God  with  all  his  heart,  for  he  did 
break  his  neck,  as  I  shall  presently  relate.  Messer 
Giovanni  showed  signs  too  evident  of  loving  him 
in  a  dishonourable  way;  for  we  began  to  notice 
that  Luigi  had  new  suits  of  silk  and  velvet  every 
morning,  and  it  was  known  that  he  abandoned 
himself  altogether  to  bad  courses.  He  neglecled  his 
fine  talents,  and  pretended  not  to  see  or  recognise 
me,  because  I  had  once  rebuked  him,  and  told  him 
he  was  giving  his  soul  to  foul  vices,  which  would 
make  him  break  his  neck,  as  he  had  vowed. 

[   158   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

XXXIII 

Now  Messer  Giovanni  bought  his  favourite  a  very 
fine  black  horse,  for  which  he  paid  150  crowns. 
The  beast  was  admirably  trained  to  hand,  so  that 
Luigi  could  go  daily  to  caracole  around  the  lodg- 
ings of  that  prostitute  Pantasilea.  Though  I  took 
notice  of  this,  I  paid  it  no  attention,  only  remarking 
that  all  things  a<5ted  as  their  nature  prompted ;  and 
meanwhile  I  gave  my  whole  mind  to  my  studies. 
It  came  to  pass  one  Sunday  evening  that  we  were 
invited  to  sup  together  with  the  Sienese  sculptor, 
Michel  Agnolo,  and  the  time  of  the  year  was  sum- 
mer. Bachiacca,  of  whom  I  have  already  spoken, 
was  present  at  the  party ;  and  he  had  brought  with 
him  his  old  flame,  Pantasilea.  When  we  were  at 
table,  she  sat  between  me  and  Bachiacca;  but  in  the 
very  middle  of  the  banquet  she  rose,  and  excused 
herself  upon  the  pretext  of  a  natural  need,  saying 
she  would  speedily  return.  We,  meanwhile,  con- 
tinued talking  very  agreeably  and  supping ;  but  she 
remained  an  unaccountably  long  time  absent.  It 
chanced  that,  keeping  my  ears  open,  I  thought  I 
heard  a  sort  of  subdued  tittering  in  the  street  be- 
low. I  had  a  knife  in  hand,  which  I  was  using  for 
my  service  at  the  table.  The  window  was  so  close 
to  where  I  sat,  that,  by  merely  rising,  I  could  see 
Luigi  in  the  street,  together  with  Pantasilea;  and  I 
heard  Luigi  saying:  "  Oh,  if  that  devil  Benvenuto 
only  saw  us,  should  n't  we  just  catch  it ! "  She  an- 
swered: "Have  no  fear;  only  listen  to  the  noise 
they're  making;  we  are  the  last  thing  they're 

C   159  D 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

thinking  of."  At  these  words,  having  made  them 
both  well  out,  I  leaped  from  the  window,  and  took 
Luigi  by  the  cape ;  and  certainly  I  should  then  have 
killed  him  with  the  knife  I  held,  but  that  he  was 
riding  a  white  horse,  to  which  he  clapped  spurs, 
leaving  his  cape  in  my  grasp,  in  order  to  preserve 
his  life.  Pantasilea  took  to  her  heels  in  the  direction 
of  a  neighbouring  church.  The  company  at  supper 
rose  immediately,  and  came  down,  entreating  me  in 
a  body  to  refrain  from  putting  myself  and  them  to 
inconvenience  for  a  strumpet.  I  told  them  that  I 
should  not  have  let  myself  be  moved  on  her  ac- 
count, but  that  I  was  bent  on  punishing  the  infamous 
young  man,  who  showed  how  little  he  regarded 
me.  Accordingly  I  would  not  yield  to  the  remon- 
strances of  those  ingenious  and  worthy  men,  but 
took  my  sword,  and  went  alone  toward  Prati:  the 
house  where  we  were  supping,  I  should  say,  stood 
close  to  the  Castello  gate,  which  led  to  Prati.1  Walk- 
ing thus  upon  the  road  to  Prati,  I  had  not  gone  far 
before  the  sun  sank,  and  I  re-entered  Rome  itself  at 
a  slow  pace.  Night  had  fallen;  darkness  had  come 
on ;  but  the  gates  of  Rome  were  not  yet  shut. 

Toward  two  hours  after  sunset,  I  walked  along 
Pantasilea's  lodging,  with  the  intention,  if  Luigi  Pulci 
were  there,  of  doing  something  to  the  discontent  of 
both.  When  I  heard  and  saw  that  no  one  but  a  poor 
servant-girl  called  Canida  was  in  the  house,  I  went 

1  The  Porta  Castello  'was  the  gate  called  after  the  Castle  of  S.  Angela.  Prati,  so 
far  as  I  can  make  out,  'was  an  open  space  bet'ween  the  Borgo  and  the  Bridge  of 
S.  Angela.  In  order  to  get  inside  Rome  itself,  Cellini  had  to  pass  a  second  gate.  His 
wan  lodging  and  Pantasilea  s  house  nvere  in  the  quarter  of  the  Bianchi,  'where  are 
now  the  Via  Giulia  and  Via  de*  Bane  hi  Vecchl. 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

to  put  away  my  cloak  and  the  scabbard  of  my  sword, 
and  then  returned  to  the  house,  which  stood  behind 
the  Banchi  on  the  river  Tiber.  Just  opposite  stretched 
a  garden  belonging  to  an  innkeeper  called  Romolo. 
It  was  enclosed  by  a  thick  hedge  of  thorns,  in  which 
I  hid  myself,  standing  upright,  and  waiting  till  the 
woman  came  back  with  Luigi.  After  keeping  watch 
awhile  there,  my  friend  Bachiacca  crept  up  to  me; 
whether  led  by  his  own  suspicions  or  by  the  advice 
of  others,  I  cannot  say.  In  a  low  voice  he  called  out 
to  me:  "  Gossip"  (for  so  we  used  to  name  ourselves 
for  fun ;  and  then  he  prayed  me  for  God's  love,  using 
the  words  which  follow,  with  tears  in  the  tone  of  his 
voice:  "  Dear  gossip,  I  entreat  you  not  to  injure  that 
poor  girl ;  she  at  least  has  erred  in  no  wise  in  this 
matter — no,  not  at  all."  When  I  heard  what  he  was 
saying,  I  replied :  "  If  you  don't  take  yourself  offnow, 
at  this  first  word  I  utter,  I  will  bring  my  sword  here 
down  upon  your  head."  Overwhelmed  with  fright, 
my  poor  gossip  was  suddenly  taken  ill  with  the  colic, 
and  withdrew  to  ease  himself  apart ;  indeed,  he  could 
not  but  obey  the  call.  There  was  a  glorious  heaven 
of  stars,  which  shed  good  light  to  see  by.  All  of  a 
sudden  I  was  aware  of  the  noise  of  many  horses; 
they  were  coming  toward  me  from  the  one  side  and 
the  other.  It  turned  out  to  be  Luigi  and  Pantasilea, 
attended  by  a  certain  Messer  Benvegnato  of  Perugia, 
who  was  chamberlain  to  Pope  Clement,  and  followed 
by  four  doughty  captains  of  Perugia,  with  some  other 
valiant  soldiers  in  the  flower  of  youth ;  altogether 
reckoned, there  were  more  than  twelve  swords.  When 
I  understood  the  matter,  and  saw  not  how  to  fly, 

[    161    1 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

I  did  my  best  to  crouch  into  the  hedge.  But  the  thorns 
pricked  and  hurt  me,  goading  me  to  madness  like  a 
bull ;  and  I  had  half  resolved  to  take  a  leap  and  hazard 
my  escape.  Just  then  Luigi,  with  his  arm  round  Pan- 
tasilea's  neck,  was  heard  crying:  "I  must  kiss  you 
once  again,  if  only  to  insult  that  traitor  Benvenuto." 
At  that  moment,  annoyed  as  I  was  by  the  prickles, 
and  irritated  by  the  young  man's  words,  I  sprang 
forth,  lifted  my  sword  on  high,  and  shouted  at  the 
top  of  my  voice :  "  You  are  all  dead  folk ! "  My  blow 
descended  on  the  shoulder  of  Luigi ;  but  the  satyrs 
who  doted  on  him,  had  steeled  his  person  round  with 
coats  of  mail  and  such-like  villainous  defences ;  still 
the  stroke  fell  with  crushing  force.  Swerving  aside, 
the  sword  hit  Pantasilea  full  in  nose  and  mouth.  Both 
she  and  Luigi  grovelled  on  the  ground,  while  Bachi- 
acca,  with  his  breeches  down  to  heels,  screamed 
out  and  ran  away.  Then  I  turned  upon  the  others 
boldly  with  my  sword;  and  those  valiant  fellows, 
hearing  a  sudden  commotion  in  the  tavern,  thought 
there  was  an  army  coming  of  a  hundred  men ;  and 
though  they  drew  their  swords  with  spirit,  yet  two 
horses  which  had  taken  fright  in  the  tumult  cast 
them  into  such  disorder  that  a  couple  of  the  best 
riders  were  thrown,  and  the  remainder  took  to  flight. 
I,  seeing  that  the  affair  was  turning  out  well  for  me, 
ran  as  quickly  as  I  could,  and  came  off  with  honour 
from  the  engagement,  not  wishing  to  tempt  fortune 
more  than  was  my  duty.  During  this  hurly-burly, 
some  of  the  soldiers  and  captains  wounded  themselves 
with  their  own  arms ;  and  Messer  Benvegnato,  the 
Pope's  chamberlain,  was  kicked  and  trampled  by  his 

[     162    J 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

mule.  One  of  the  servants  also,  who  had  drawn  his 
sword,  fell  down  together  with  his  master,  and 
wounded  him  badly  in  the  hand.  Maddened  by  the 
pain,  he  swore  louder  than  all  the  rest  in  his  Peru- 
gian  jargon,  crying  out:  "  By  the  body  of  God,  I  will 
take  care  that  Benvegnato  teaches  Benvenuto  how 
to  live."  He  afterwards  commissioned  one  of  the  cap- 
tains who  were  with  him  (braver  perhaps  than  the 
others,  but  with  less  aplomb,  as  being  but  a  youth) 
to  seek  me  out.  The  fellow  came  to  visit  me  in  the 
place  of  my  retirement;  that  was  the  palace  of 
a  great  Neapolitan  nobleman,  who  had  become  ac- 
quainted with  me  in  my  art,  and  had  besides  taken 
a  fancy  to  me  because  of  my  physical  and  mental 
aptitude  for  fighting,  to  which  my  lord  himself  was 
personally  well  inclined.  So,  then,  finding  myself 
made  much  of,  and  being  precisely  in  my  element, 
I  gave  such  answer  to  the  captain  as  I  think  must 
have  made  him  earnestly  repent  of  having  come  to 
look  me  up.  After  a  few  days,  when  the  wounds  of 
Luigi,  and  the  strumpet,  and  the  rest  were  healing, 
this  great  Neapolitan  nobleman  received  overtures 
from  Messer  Benvegnato;  for  the  prelate's  anger 
had  cooled,  and  he  proposed  to  ratify  a  peace  be- 
tween me  and  Luigi  and  the  soldiers,  who  had  per- 
sonally no  quarrel  with  me,  and  only  wished  to  make 
my  acquaintance.  Accordingly  my  friend  the  noble- 
man replied  that  he  would  bring  me  where  they 
chose  to  appoint,  and  that  he  was  very  willing  to 
effect  a  reconciliation.  He  stipulated  that  no  words 
should  be  bandied  about  on  either  side,  seeing  that 
would  be  little  to  their  credit;  it  was  enough  to  go 

C  163  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

through  the  form  of  drinking  together  and  exchan- 
ging kisses ;  he  for  his  part  undertook  to  do  the  talk- 
ing, and  promised  to  settle  the  matter  to  their  hon- 
our. This  arrangement  was  carried  out.  On  Thurs- 
day evening  my  protestor  took  me  to  the  house  of 
Messer  Benvegnato,  where  all  the  soldiers  who  had 
been  present  at  that  discomfiture  were  assembled, 
and  already  seated  at  table.  My  nobleman  was  at- 
tended by  thirty  brave  fellows,  all  well  armed;  a 
circumstance  which  Messer  Benvegnato  had  not  an- 
ticipated. When  we  came  into  the  hall,  he  walking 
first,  I  following,  he  spake  to  this  effect:  "God  save 
you,  gentlemen;  we  have  come  to  see  you,  I  and 
Benvenuto,  whom  I  love  like  my  own  brother ;  and 
we  are  ready  to  do  whatever  you  propose."  Messer 
Benvegnato,  seeing  the  hall  fill  with  such  a  crowd 
of  men,  called  out:  "It  is  only  peace,  and  nothing 
else,  we  ask  of  you/'  Accordingly  he  promised  that 
the  governor  of  Rome  and  his  catchpoles  should 
give  me  no  trouble.  Then  we  made  peace,  and  I  re- 
turned to  my  shop,  where  I  could  not  stay  an  hour 
without  that  Neapolitan  nobleman  either  coming  to 
see  me  or  sending  for  me. 

Meanwhile  Luigi  Pulci,  having  recovered  from  his 
wound,  rode  every  day  upon  the  black  horse  which 
was  so  well  trained  to  heel  and  bridle.  One  day, 
among  others,  after  it  had  rained  a  little,  and  he  was 
making  his  horse  curvet  just  before  Pantasilea'sdoor, 
he  slipped  and  fell,  with  the  horse  upon  him.  His 
right  leg  was  broken  short  off  in  the  thigh;  and  after 
a  few  days  he  died  there  in  Pantasilea's  lodgings, 
discharging  thus  the  vow  he  registered  so  heartily 

164  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

to  Heaven.  Even  so  may  it  be  seen  that  God  keeps 
account  of  the  good  and  the  bad,  and  gives  to  each 
one  what  he  merits. 

xxxiv 

The  whole  world  was  now  in  warfare.1  Pope  Cle- 
ment had  sent  to  get  some  troops  from  Giovanni 
de'  Medici,  and  when  they  came,  they  made  such 
disturbances  in  Rome,  that  it  was  ill  living  in  open 
shops.2  On  this  account  I  retired  to  a  good  snug  house 
behind  the  Banchi,  where  I  worked  for  all  the  friends 
I  had  acquired.  Since  I  produced  few  things  of  much 
importance  at  that  period,  I  need  not  waste  time  in 
talking  about  them.  I  took  much  pleasure  in  music 
and  amusements  of  the  kind.  On  the  death  of  Gio- 
vanni de'  Medici  in  Lombardy,  the  Pope,  at  the  ad- 
vice of  Messer  Jacopo  Salviati,  dismissed  the  five 
bands  he  had  engaged;  and  when  the  Constable  of 
Bourbon  knew  there  were  no  troops  in  Rome,  he 
pushed  his  army  with  the  utmost  energy  up  to  the 
city.  The  whole  of  Rome  upon  this  flew  to  arms.  I 
happened  to  be  intimate  with  Alessandro,  the  son  of 
Piero  del  Bene,  who,  at  the  time  when  the  Colon- 
nesi  entered  Rome,  had  requested  me  to  guard  his 
palace.3  On  this  more  serious  occasion,  therefore,  he 

1  War  had  broken  out  in  1 521  between  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I.,  'which  disturbed 
all  Europe  and  involved  the  States  of  Italy  in  serious  complications.  At  the  moment 
'when  this  chapter  opens,  the  Imperialist  army  under  the  Constable  of  ftourbon  'was 
marching  upon  Rome  in  1527. 

*  These  troops  entered  Rome  in  Oflober  1526.  They  'were  disbanded  in  March  1527. 
3  Cellini  here  refers  to  the  attack  made  upon  Rome  by  the  great  Ghibelline  house  of 
Colonna,  led  by  their  chief  captain,  Pompeo,  in  September  1 526.  They  took  possession 
of  the  city  and  drove  Clement  into  the  Castle  of  S.  Angela,  'where  they  forced  him 
to  agree  to  terms  favouring  the  Imperial  cause.  It  'was  customary  for  Roman  gentle- 

C   165  ^ 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

prayed  me  to  enlist  fifty  comrades  for  the  protection 
of  the  said  house,  appointing  me  their  captain,  as  I  had 
been  when  the  Colonnesi  came.  So  I  collected  fifty 
young  men  of  the  highest  courage,  and  we  took  up 
our  quarters  in  his  palace,  with  good  pay  and  excel- 
lent appointments. 

Bourbon's  army  had  now  arrived  before  the  walls 
of  Rome,  and  Alessandro  begged  me  to  go  with  him 
to  reconnoitre.  So  we  went  with  one  of  the  stoutest 
fellows  in  our  company ;  and  on  the  way  a  youth  called 
Cecchino  della  Casa  joined  himself  to  us.  On  reach- 
ing the  walls  by  the  Campo  Santo,  we  could  see  that 
famous  army,  which  was  making  every  effort  to  en- 
ter the  town.  Upon  the  ramparts  where  we  took  our 
station,  several  young  men  were  lying  killed  by  the 
besiegers;  the  battle  raged  there  desperately,  and 
there  was  the  densest  fog  imaginable.  I  turned  to 
Alessandro  and  said:  "Let  us  go  home  as  soon  as 
we  can,  for  there  is  nothing  to  be  done  here;  you 
see  the  enemies  are  mounting,  and  our  men  are  in 
flight/'  Alessandro,  in  a  panic,  cried:  "Would  God 
that  we  had  never  come  here!"  and  turned  in  mad- 
dest haste  to  fly.  I  took  him  up  somewhat  sharply 
with  these  words :  "  Since  you  have  brought  me  here, 
I  must  perform  some  action  worthy  of  a  man ;"  and 
directing  my  arquebuse  where  I  saw  the  thickest  and 
most  serried  troop  of  fighting  men,  I  aimed  exactly 
at  one  whom  I  remarked  to  be  higher  than  the  rest: 
the  fog  prevented  me  from  being  certain  whether 
he  was  on  horseback  or  on  foot.  Then  I  turned  to 

men  to  hire  bra'vifor  the  defence  of  their  palaces  'when  any  extraordinary  disturb- 
ance 'was  expefted,  as ,  for  example,  upon  the  'vacation  of  the  Papal  Chair. 


CASTELLO     SANT    ANGELO 
ROME 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Alessandro  and  Cecchino,  and  bade  them  discharge 
their  arquebuses,  showing  them  how  to  avoid  being 
hit  by  the  besiegers.  When  we  had  fired  two  rounds 
apiece,  I  crept  cautiously  up  to  the  wall,  and  observ- 
ing among  the  enemy  a  most  extraordinary  confu- 
sion, I  discovered  afterwards  that  one  of  our  shots 
had  killed  the  Constable  of  Bourbon ;  and  from  what 
I  subsequently  learned,  he  was  the  man  whom  I  had 
first  noticed  above  the  heads  of  the  rest.1 

Quitting  our  position  on  the  ramparts,  we  crossed 
the  Campo  Santo,  and  entered  the  city  by  St.  Pe- 
ter's ;  then  coming  out  exactly  at  the  church  of  Santo 
Agnolo,  we  got  with  the  greatest  difficulty  to  the 
great  gate  of  the  castle;  for  the* generals  Renzo  di 
Ceri  and  Orazio  Baglioni  were  wounding  and  slaugh- 
tering everybody  who  abandoned  the  defence  of  the 
walls.2  By  the  time  we  had  reached  the  great  gate, 
part  of  the  foemen  had  already  entered  Rome,  and 
we  had  them  in  our  rear.  The  castellan  had  ordered 
the  portcullis  to  be  lowered,  in  order  to  do  which 
they  cleared  a  little  space,  and  this  enabled  us  four 
to  get  inside.  On  the  instant  that  I  entered,  the  cap- 
tain Pallone  de'  Medici  claimed  me  as  being  of  the 
Papal  household,  and  forced  me  to  abandon  Ales- 
sandro, which  I  had  to  do,  much  against  my  will.  I 

1  All  historians  of  the  sack  of  Rome  agree  in  saying  that  Bourbon  'was  shot  dead 
'while  placing  ladders  against  the  outworks  near  the  shop  Cellini  mentions.  But  the 
honour  of  firing  the  arquebuse  'which  brought  him  down  cannot  be  assigned  to  any 
one  in  particular.  Very  different  stories  'were  current  on  the  subjefl.  See  Gregoro- 
vius,  Stadt  Rom,  'vol.  euiii.  p.  522. 

8  For  Renzo  di  Ceri  see  above,  p.  132.  Orazio  Baglioni,  of  the  semi-princely  Perugian 
family,  'was  a  distinguished  Condottiere.  He  subsequently  obtained  the  captaincy  of 
the  Bande  Nere,  and  died  fighting  near  Naples  in  1528.  Orazio  murdered  several 
of  his  cousins  in  order  to  acquire  the  lords  hip  of  Perugia.  His  brother  Malatesta  under- 
took to  defend  Florence  in  the  siege  0/^1530,  and  sold  the  city  by  treason  to  Clement. 

L  1673 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ascended  to  the  keep,  and  at  the  same  instant  Pope 
Clement  came  in  through  the  corridors  into  the 
castle ;  he  had  refused  to  leave  the  palace  of  St.  Pe- 
ter earlier,  being  unable  to  believe  that  his  enemies 
would  effect  their  entrance  into  Rome.1  Having  got 
into  the  castle  in  this  way,  I  attached  myself  to  cer- 
tain pieces  of  artillery,  which  were  under  the  com- 
mand of  a  bombardier  called  Giuliano  Fiorentino. 
Leaning  there  against  the  battlements,  the  unhappy 
man  could  see  his  poor  house  being  sacked,  and  his 
wife  and  children  outraged ;  fearing  to  strike  his  own 
folk,  he  dared  not  discharge  the  cannon,  and  fling- 
ing the  burning  fuse  upon  the  ground,  he  wept  as 
though  his  heart  would  break,  and  tore  his  cheeks 
with  both  his  hands.2  Some  of  the  other  bombardiers 
were  behaving  in  like  manner;  seeing  which,  I  took 
one  of  the  matches,  and  got  the  assistance  of  a  few 
men  who  were  not  overcome  by  their  emotions.  I 
aimed  some  swivels  and  falconets  at  points  where  I 
saw  it  would  be  useful,  and  killed  with  them  a  good 
number  of  the  enemy.  Had  it  not  been  for  this,  the 
troops  who  poured  into  Rome  that  morning,  and 
were  marching  straight  upon  the  castle,  might  pos- 
sibly have  entered  it  with  ease,  because  the  artillery 
was  doing  them  no  damage.  I  went  on  firing  under 

1  Giovio,  in  his  Life  of  the  Cardinal  Prospero  Colonna,  relates  how  he  accom- 
panied Clement  in  his  flight  from  the  Vatican  to  the  castle.  While  passing  some  open 
portions  of  the  gallery,  he  threw  his  violet  mantle  and  cap  of  a  Monsignore  over 
the  'white  stole  of  the  Pontiff,  for  fear  he  might  be  shot  at  by  the  soldiers  in  the 
streets  below. 

2  The  short  autobiography  of  Raffaello  da  Montelupo,  a  man  in  many  respeSs  re- 
sembling Cellini,  confirms  this  part  of  our  author's  narrative.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  pieces  of  evidence  regarding  what  went  on  inside  the  castle  during  the 
sack  of  Rome.  Montelupo  was  also  a  gunner,  and  commanded  two  pieces. 

C   168  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

the  eyes  of  several  cardinals  and  lords,  who  kept  bless- 
ing me  and  giving  me  the  heartiest  encouragement. 
In  my  enthusiasm  I  strove  to  achieve  the  impossi- 
ble ;  let  it  suffice  that  it  was  I  who  saved  the  castle 
that  morning,  and  brought  the  other  bombardiers 
back  to  their  duty.1 1  worked  hard  the  whole  of  that 
day ;  and  when  the  evening  came,  while  the  army 
was  marching  into  Rome  through  the  Trastevere, 
Pope  Clement  appointed  a  great  Roman  nobleman 
named  Antonio  Santacroce  to  be  captain  of  all  the 
gunners.  The  first  thing  this  man  did  was  to  come 
to  me,  and  having  greeted  me  with  the  utmost  kind- 
ness, he  stationed  me  with  five  fine  pieces  of  artil- 
lery on  the  highest  point  of  the  castle,  to  which  the 
name  of  the  Angel  specially  belongs.  This  circular 
eminence  goes  round  the  castle,  and  surveys  both 
Prati  and  the  town  of  Rome.  The  captain  put  under 
my  orders  enough  men  to  help  in  managing  my  guns, 
and  having  seen  me  paid  in  advance,  he  gave  me 
rations  of  bread  and  a  little  wine,  and  begged  me 
to  go  forward  as  I  had  begun.  I  was  perhaps  more 
inclined  by  nature  to  the  profession  of  arms  than  to 
the  one  I  had  adopted,  and  I  took  such  pleasure  in 
its  duties  that  I  discharged  them  better  than  those 
of  my  own  art.  Night  came,  the  enemy  had  entered 
Rome,  and  we  who  were  in  the  castle  ( especially 
myself,  who  have  always  taken  pleasure  in  extraor- 
dinary sights)  stayed  gazing  on  the  indescribable 
scene  of  tumult  and  conflagration  in  the  streets  be- 
low. People  who  were  anywhere  else  but  where  we 

1  This  is  an  instance  of  Cellini's  exaggeration.  He  did  more  t  han  yeoman 's  service,  no 
doubt.  But  fwe  cannot  belie<ve  that,  'without  him,  the  castle  'would  ha-ve  been  taken. 

C   1(?9  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

were,  could  not  have  formed  the  least  imagination 
of  what  it  was.  I  will  not,  however,  set  myself  to 
describe  that  tragedy,  but  will  content  myself  with 
continuing  the  history  of  my  own  life  and  the  cir- 
cumstances which  properly  belong  to  it. 

xxxv 

During  the  course  of  my  artillery  practice,  which 
I  never  intermitted  through  the  whole  month  passed 
by  us  beleaguered  in  the  castle,  I  met  with  a  great 
many  very  striking  accidents,  all  of  them  worthy  to 
be  related.  But  since  I  do  not  care  to  be  too  prolix, 
or  to  exhibit  my  self  outside  the  sphere  of  my  profes- 
sion, I  will  omit  the  larger  part  of  them,  only  touch- 
ing upon  those  I  cannot  well  neglect,  which  shall  be 
the  fewest  in  number  and  the  most  remarkable.  The 
first  which  comes  to  hand  is  this :  Messer  Antonio 
Santacroce  had  made  me  come  down  from  the  Angel, 
in  order  to  fire  on  some  houses  in  the  neighbourhood, 
where  certain  of  our  besiegers  had  been  seen  to  enter. 
While  I  was  firing,  a  cannon  shot  reached  me,  which 
hit  the  angle  of  a  battlement,  and  carried  off  enough 
of  it  to  be  the  cause  why  I  sustained  no  injury.  The 
whole  mass  struck  me  in  the  chest  and  took  my  breath 
away.  I  lay  stretched  upon  the  ground  like  a  dead 
man,  and  could  hear  what  the  bystanders  were  say- 
ing. Among  them  all,  Messer  Antonio  Santacroce 
lamented  greatly,  exclaiming:  "Alas,  alas!  we  have 
lost  the  best  defender  that  we  had/'  Attracted  by 
the  uproar,  one  of  my  comrades  ran  up ;  he  was  called 
Gianfrancesco,  and  was  a  bandsman,  but  was  far  more 
naturally  given  to  medicine  than  to  music.  On  the 

C  170  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

spot  he  flew  off,  crying  for  a  stoop  of  the  very  best 
Greek  wine.  Then  he  made  a  tile  red-hot,  and  cast 
upon  it  a  good  handful  of  wormwood ;  after  which 
he  sprinkled  the  Greek  wine ;  and  when  the  worm- 
wood was  well  soaked,  he  laid  it  on  my  breast,  just 
where  the  bruise  was  visible  to  all.  Such  was  the  vir- 
tue of  the  wormwood  that  I  immediately  regained  my 
scattered  faculties.  I  wanted  to  begin  to  speak,  but 
could  not;  for  some  stupid  soldiers  had  filled  my 
mouth  with  earth,  imagining  that  by  so  doing  they 
were  giving  me  the  sacrament ;  and  indeed  they  were 
more  like  to  have  excommunicated  me,  since  I  could 
with  difficulty  come  to  myself  again,  the  earth  doing 
me  more  mischief  than  the  blow.  However,  I  escaped 
that  danger,  and  returned  to  the  rage  and  fury  of 
the  guns,  pursuing  my  work  there  with  all  the  abil- 
ity and  eagerness  that  I  could  summon. 

Pope  Clement,  by  this,  had  sent  to  demand  assist- 
ance from  the  Duke  of  Urbino,  who  was  with  the 
troops  of  Venice ;  he  commissioned  the  envoy  to  tell 
his  Excellency  that  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo  would 
send  up  every  evening  three  beacons  from  its  sum- 
mit, accompanied  by  three  discharges  of  the  cannon 
thrice  repeated,  and  that  so  long  as  this  signal  was 
continued,  he  might  take  for  granted  that  the  castle 
had  not  yielded.  I  was  charged  with  lighting  the  bea- 
cons and  firing  the  guns  for  this  purpose;  and  all  this 
while  I  pointed  my  artillery  by  day  upon  the  places 
where  mischief  could  be  done.  The  Pope,  in  conse- 
quence, began  to  regard  me  with  still  greater  favour, 
because  he  saw  that  I  discharged  my  functions  as  in- 
telligently as  the  task  demanded.  Aid  from  the  Duke 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

of  Urbino  never  came ;  on  which,  as  it  is  not  my  busi- 
ness, I  will  make  no  further  comment.1 

xxxvi 

While  I  was  at  work  upon  that  diabolical  task  of 
mine,  there  came  from  time  to  time  to  watch  me 
some  of  the  cardinals  who  were  invested  in  the  cas- 
tle;  and  most  frequently  the  Cardinal  of  Ravenna  and 
the  Cardinal  de'  Gaddi.2 1  often  told  them  not  to  show 
themselves,  since  their  nasty  red  caps  gave  a  fair 
mark  to  our  enemies.  From  neighbouring  buildings, 
such  as  the  Torre  de'  Bini,  we  ran  great  peril  when 
they  were  there;  and  at  last  I  had  them  locked  off, 
and  gained  thereby  their  deep  ill-will.  I  frequently 
received  visits  also  from  the  general,  Orazio  Bagli- 
oni,  who  was  very  well  affected  toward  me.  One  day 
while  he  was  talking  with  me,  he  noticed  something 
going  forward  in  a  drinking-place  outside  the  Porta 
di  Castello,  which  bore  the  name  of  Baccanello.  This 
tavern  had  for  sign  a  sun  painted  between  two  win- 
dows, of  a  bright  red  colour.  The  windows  being 
closed,  Signor  Orazio  concluded  that  a  band  of  sol- 
diers were  carousing  at  table  just  between  them  and 

1  Francesco  Maria  della  Rovere,  Duke  of  Urbino,  commanded  a  considerable  army 
as  general  of  the  Church,  and  'was  now  aflingfor  Venice.  Why  he  effected  no  di- 
version while  the  Imperial  troops  'were  marching  upon  Rome,  and  'why  he  delayed 
to  relieve  the  city,  was  never  properly  explained.  Folk  attributed  his  impotent  con- 
duff  partly  to  a  natural  sluggishness  in  warfare,  and  partly  to  his  hatred  for  the 
house  of  Medici.  Leo  X.  had  deprived  him  of  his  dukedom,  and  given  it  to  a  Medi- 
cean  prince.  It  is  to  this  that  Cellini  probably  refers  in  the  cautious  phrase  ivhich 
ends  the  chapter. 

*  Benedetto  Accolti  of  Arezzo,  Archbishop  of  Ravenna  in  1 524,  obtained  the  hat  in 
1527,  three  days  before  the  sack  of  Rome.  He  was  a  distinguished  man  of  letters. 
Niccolo  Gaddi  was  created  Cardinal  on  the  same  day  as  Accolti.  We  shall  hear 
more  of  him  in  Cellini's  pages. 

C  172  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

behind  the  sun.  So  he  said  to  me:  "  Benvenuto,  if  you 
think  that  you  could  hit  that  wall  an  ell's  breadth 
from  the  sun  with  your  demi-cannon  here,  I  believe 
you  would  be  doing  a  good  stroke  of  business,  for 
there  is  a  great  commotion  there,  and  men  of  much 
importance  must  probably  be  inside  the  house/'  I 
answered  that  I  felt  quite  capable  of  hitting  the  sun 
in  its  centre,  but  that  a  barrel  full  of  stones,  which 
was  standing  close  to  the  muzzle  of  the  gun,  might 
be  knocked  down  by  the  shock  of  the  discharge  and 
the  blast  of  the  artillery.  He  rejoined:  "  Don't  waste 
time,  Benvenuto.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  possible, 
where  it  is  standing,  that  the  cannon's  blast  should 
bring  it  down;  and  even  if  it  were  to  fall,  and  the 
Pope  himself  was  underneath,  the  mischief  would 
not  be  so  great  as  you  imagine.  Fire,  then,  only 
fire ! "  Taking  no  more  thought  about  it,  I  struck  the 
sun  in  the  centre,  exactly  as  I  said  I  should.  The  cask 
was  dislodged,  as  I  predicted,  and  fell  precisely  be- 
tween Cardinal  Farnese  and  Messer  Jacopo  Salviati.1 
It  might  very  well  have  dashed  out  the  brains  of 
both  of  them,  except  that  just  at  that  very  moment 
Farnese  was  reproaching  Salviati  with  having  caused 
the  sack  of  Rome,  and  while  they  stood  apart  from 
one  another  to  exchange  opprobrious  remarks,  my 
gabion  fell  without  destroying  them.  When  he  heard 
the  uproar  in  the  court  below,  good  Signor  Orazio 
dashed  off  in  a  hurry;  and  I,  thrusting  my  neck  for- 
ward where  the  cask  had  fallen,  heard  some  people 
saying:  "It  would  not  be  a  bad  job  to  kill  that  gun- 

1  Alessandro  Farnese,  Dean  of  the  Sacred  College,  and  afterwards  Pope  Paul  HI. 
OfGiacopo  Safoiati  <we  ha<ve  already  heard,  p.  84. 

C   173   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ner ! "  Upon  this  I  turned  two  falconets  toward  the 
staircase,  with  mind  resolved  to  let  blaze  on  the  first 
man  who  attempted  to  come  up.  The  household  of 
Cardinal  Farnese  must  have  received  orders  to  go 
and  do  me  some  injury;  accordingly  I  prepared  to 
receive  them,  with  a  lighted  match  in  hand.  Recog- 
nising some  who  were  approaching,  I  called  out: 
"  You  lazy  lubbers,  if  you  don't  pack  off  from  there, 
and  if  but  a  man's  child  among  you  dares  to  touch 
the  staircase,  I  have  got  two  cannon  loaded,  which 
will  blow  you  into  powder.  Go  and  tell  the  Cardi- 
nal that  I  was  acting  at  the  order  of  superior  officers, 
and  that  what  we  have  done  and  are  doing  is  in  de- 
fence of  them  priests,1  and  not  to  hurt  them."  They 
made  away;  and  then  came  Signor  Orazio  Baglioni, 
running.  I  bade  him  stand  back,  else  I'd  murder 
him;  for  I  knew  very  well  who  he  was.  He  drew 
back  a  little,  not  without  a  certain  show  of  fear,  and 
called  out:  "Benvenuto,  I  am  your  friend!"  To  this 
I  answered:  "Sir,  come  up,  but  come  alone,  and 
then  come  as  you  like."  The  general,  who  was  a 
man  of  mighty  pride,  stood  still  a  moment,  and  then 
said  angrily:  "I  have  a  good  mind  not  to  come  up 
again,  and  to  do  quite  the  opposite  of  that  which  I 
intended  toward  you."  I  replied  that  just  as  I  was 
put  there  to  defend  my  neighbours,  I  was  equally 
well  able  to  defend  myself  too.  He  said  that  he  was 
coming  alone ;  and  when  he  arrived  at  the  top  of  the 
stairs,  his  features  were  more  discomposed  than  I 
thought  reasonable.  So  I  kept  my  hand  upon  my 
sword,  and  stood  eyeing  him  askance.  Upon  this  he 

1  Loro  preti.  Perhaps  their  priests. 

I   174  D 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

began  to  laugh,  and  the  colour  coming  back  into  his 
face,  he  said  to  me  with  the  most  pleasant  manner: 
"  Friend  Benvenuto,  I  bear  you  as  great  love  as  I 
have  it  in  my  heart  to  give;  and  in  God's  good  time 
I  will  render  you  proof  of  this.  Would  to  God  that 
you  had  killed  those  two  rascals ;  for  one  of  them  is 
the  cause  of  all  this  trouble,  and  the  day  perchance 
will  come  when  the  other  will  be  found  the  cause  of 
something  even  worse."  He  then  begged  me,  if  I 
should  be  asked,  not  to  say  that  he  was  with  me 
when  I  fired  the  gun ;  and  for  the  rest  bade  me  be 
of  good  cheer.  The  commotion  which  the  affair  made 
was  enormous,  and  lasted  a  long  while.  However, 
I  will  not  enlarge  upon  it  further,  only  adding  that 
I  was  within  an  inch  of  revenging  my  father  on 
Messer  Jacopo  Salviati,  who  had  grievously  injured 
him,  according  to  my  father's  frequent  complaints. 
As  it  was,  unwittingly  I  gave  the  fellow  a  great 
fright.  Of  Farnese  I  shall  say  nothing  here,  because 
it  will  appear  in  its  proper  place  how  well  it  would 
have  been  if  I  had  killed  him. 

XXXVII 

I  pursued  my  business  of  artilleryman,  and  every 
day  performed  some  extraordinary  feat,  whereby 
the  credit  and  the  favour  I  acquired  with  the  Pope 
was  something  indescribable.  There  never  passed 
a  day  but  what  I  killed  one  or  another  of  our  ene- 
mies in  the  besieging  army.  On  one  occasion  the 
Pope  was  walking  round  the  circular  keep,1  when 

1  'the  Mast'io  or  main  body  of  Hadrian  s  Mausoleum,  which  'was  converted  into  a 
fortress  during  the  Middle  Ages. 

c  ns : 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

he  observed  a  Spanish  Colonel  in  the  Prati ;  he  rec- 
ognised the  man  by  certain  indications,  seeing  that 
this  officer  had  formerly  been  in  his  service;  and 
while  he  fixed  his  eyes  on  him,  he  kept  talking 
about  him.  I,  above  by  the  Angel,  knew  nothing  of 
all  this,  but  spied  a  fellow  down  there,  busying 
himself  about  the  trenches  with  a  javelin  in  his 
hand;  he  was  dressed  entirely  in  rose-colour;  and 
so,  studying  the  worst  that  I  could  do  against  him, 
I  selected  a  gerfalcon  which  I  had  at  hand ;  it  is  a 
piece  of  ordnance  larger  and  longer  than  a  swivel, 
and  about  the  size  of  a  demi-culverin.  This  I  emp- 
tied, and  loaded  it  again  with  a  good  charge  of  fine 
powder  mixed  with  the  coarser  sort;  then  I  aimed 
it  exactly  at  the  man  in  red,  elevating  prodigiously, 
because  a  piece  of  that  calibre  could  hardly  be  ex- 
peeled  to  carry  true  at  such  a  distance.  I  fired,  and 
hit  my  man  exactly  in  the  middle.  He  had  trussed 
his  sword  in  front,1  for  swagger,  after  a  way  those 
Spaniards  have;  and  my  ball,  when  it  struck  him, 
broke  upon  the  blade,  and  one  could  see  the  fellow 
cut  in  two  fair  halves.  The  Pope,  who  was  expect- 
ing nothing  of  this  kind,  derived  great  pleasure  and 
amazement  from  the  sight,  both  because  it  seemed 
to  him  impossible  that  one  should  aim  and  hit  the 
mark  at  such  a  distance,  and  also  because  the  man 
was  cut  in  two,  and  he  could  not  comprehend  how 
this  should  happen.  He  sent  for  me,  and  asked 
about  it.  I  explained  all  the  devices  I  had  used  in 
firing;  but  told  him  that  why  the  man  was  cut  in 
halves,  neither  he  nor  I  could  know.  Upon  my 

1  S*a<VFua  messo  la  spada  dinanzi.  Perhaps  was  tearing  his  siuord  in  front  of  him. 

L   176] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

bended  knees  I  then  besought  him  to  give  me  the 
pardon  of  his  blessing  for  that  homicide;  and  for 
all  the  others  I  had  committed  in  the  castle  in  the 
service  of  the  Church.  Thereat  the  Pope,  raising 
his  hand,  and  making  a  large  open  sign  of  the  cross 
upon  my  face,  told  me  that  he  blessed  me,  and  that 
he  gave  me  pardon  for  all  murders  I  had  ever  per- 
petrated, or  should  ever  perpetrate,  in  the  service 
of  the  Apostolic  Church.  When  I  left  him,  I  went 
aloft,  and  never  stayed  from  firing  to  the  utmost  of 
my  power;  and  few  were  the  shots  of  mine  that 
missed  their  mark.  My  drawing,  and  my  fine  stud- 
ies in  my  craft,  and  my  charming  art  of  music,  all 
were  swallowed  up  in  the  din  of  that  artillery;  and 
if  I  were  to  relate  in  detail  all  the  splendid  things  I 
did  in  that  infernal  work  of  cruelty,  I  should  make 
the  world  stand  by  and  wonder.  But,  not  to  be  too 
prolix,  I  will  pass  them  over.  Only  I  must  tell  a  few 
of  the  most  remarkable,  which  are,  as  it  were,  forced 
in  upon  me. 

To  begin  then:  pondering  day  and  night  what  I 
could  render  for  my  own  part  in  defence  of  Holy 
Church,  and  having  noticed  that  the  enemy  changed 
guard  and  marched  past  through  the  great  gate  of 
Santo  Spirito,  which  was  within  a  reasonable  range, 
I  thereupon  directed  my  attention  to  that  spot ;  but, 
having  to  shoot  sideways,  I  could  not  do  the  damage 
that  I  wished,  although  I  killed  a  fair  percentage  every 
day.  This  induced  our  adversaries,  when  they  saw 
their  passage  covered  by  my  guns,  to  load  the  roof  of 
a  certain  house  one  night  with  thirty  gabions,  which 
obstructed  the  view  I  formerly  enjoyed.  Taking  bet- 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ter  thought  than  I  had  done  of  the  whole  situation, 
I  now  turned  all  my  five  pieces  of  artillery  direclly 
on  the  gabions,  and  waited  till  the  evening  hour,  when 
they  changed  guard .  Our  enemies ,  thinking  they  were 
safe,  came  on  at  greater  ease  and  in  a  closer  body 
than  usual;  whereupon  I  set  fire  to  my  blow-pipes.1 
Not  merely  did  I  dash  to  pieces  the  gabions  which 
stood  in  my  way ;  but,  what  was  better,  by  that  one 
blast  I  slaughtered  more  than  thirty  men.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  manoeuvre,  which  I  repeated  twice, 
the  soldiers  were  thrown  into  such  disorder,  that  be- 
ing, moreover,  encumbered  with  the  spoils  of  that 
great  sack,  and  some  of  them  desirous  of  enjoying 
the  fruits  of  their  labour,  they  oftentimes  showed  a 
mind  to  mutiny  and  take  themselves  away  from  Rome. 
However,  after  coming  to  terms  with  their  valiant 
captain,  Gian  di  Urbino,2  they  were  ultimately  com- 
pelled, at  their  excessive  inconvenience,  to  take  an- 
other road  when  they  changed  guard.  It  cost  them 
three  miles  of  march,  whereas  before  they  had  but 
half  a  mile.  Having  achieved  this  feat,  I  was  entreated 
with  prodigious  favours  by  all  the  men  of  quality  who 
were  invested  in  the  castle.  This  incident  was  so  im- 
portant that  I  thought  it  well  to  relate  it,  before  fin- 
ishing the  history  of  things  outside  my  art,  the  which 
is  the  real  obje<5l  of  my  writing:  forsooth,  if  I  wanted 
to  ornament  my  biography  with  such  matters, I  should 
have  far  too  much  to  tell.  There  is  only  one  more 

1  Sqffioni,  the  cannon  being  like  tubes  to  blow  afire  up. 

2  This  captain  'was  a  Spaniard,  'who  played  a  'very  considerable  figure  in  the  'war, 
distinguishing  himself  at  the  capture  of  Genoa  and  the  battle  of  Lodi  in  1522,  and 
afterwards  afiing  as  Lieutenant-General  to  the  Prince  of  Orange.  He  held  Naples 
against  Orazio  Baglioni  in  1528,  and  died  before  Spcllo  in  1529. 

C    '78   II 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

circumstance  which,  now  that  the  occasion  offers,  I 
propose  to  record. 

XXXVIII 

I  shall  skip  over  some  intervening  circumstances,  and 
tell  how  Pope  Clement,  wishing  to  save  the  tiaras 
and  the  whole  collection  of  the  great  jewels  of  the 
Apostolic  Camera,  had  me  called,  and  shut  himself 
up  together  with  me  and  the  Cavalierino  in  a  room 
alone.1  This  Cavalierino  had  been  a  groom  in  the 
stable  of  Filippo  Strozzi ;  he  was  French,  and  a  per- 
son of  the  lowest  birth ;  but  being  a  most  faithful  ser- 
vant, the  Pope  had  made  him  very  rich,  and  confided 
in  him  like  himself.  So  the  Pope,  the  Cavaliere,  and 
I,  being  shut  up  together,  they  laid  before  me  the 
tiaras  and  jewels  of  the  regalia;  and  his  Holiness 
ordered  me  to  take  all  the  gems  out  of  their  gold 
settings.  This  I  accordingly  did;  afterwards  I  wrapt 
them  separately  up  in  bits  of  paper,  and  we  sewed 
them  into  the  linings  of  the  Pope's  and  the  Cava- 
liere's  clothes.  Then  they  gave  me  all  the  gold,  which 
weighed  about  two  hundred  pounds,  and  bade  me 
melt  it  down  as  secretly  as  I  was  able.  I  went  up  to 
the  Angel,  where  I  had  my  lodging,  and  could  lock 
the  door  so  as  to  be  free  from  interruption.  There  I 
built  a  little  draught-furnace  of  bricks,  with  a  largish 
pot,  shaped  like  an  open  dish,  at  the  bottom  of  it ;  and 
throwing  the  gold  upon  the  coals,  it  gradually  sank 
through  and  dropped  into  the  pan.  While  the  furnace 

1  This  personage  cannot  be  identified.  The  Filippo  Strozzi  mentioned  as  having  been 
his  master  'was  the  great  opponent  of  the  Medicean  despotism,  ivho  killed  himself 
in  prison  after  the  defeat  of  Montemurlo  in  1 539.  He  married  in  early  life  a  daugh- 
ter of  Piero  de"  Medici. 

C   179  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

was  working,  I  never  left  off  watching  how  to  annoy 
our  enemies;  and  as  their  trenches  were  less  than 
a  stone's-throw  right  below  us,  I  was  able  to  infli6l 
considerable  damage  on  them  with  some  useless 
missiles,1  of  which  there  were  several  piles,  forming 
the  old  munition  of  the  castle.  I  chose  a  swivel  and 
a  falconet,  which  were  both  a  little  damaged  in  the 
muzzle,  and  filled  them  with  the  projectiles  I  have 
mentioned.  When  I  fired  my  guns, they  hurtled  down 
like  mad,  occasioning  all  sorts  of  unexpected  mis- 
chief in  the  trenches.  Accordingly  I  kept  these  pieces 
always  going  at  the  same  time  that  the  gold  was  be- 
ing melted  down ;  and  a  little  before  vespers  I  noticed 
some  one  coming  along  the  margin  of  the  trench  on 
muleback.  The  mule  was  trotting  very  quickly,  and 
the  man  was  talking  to  the  soldiers  in  the  trenches. 
I  took  the  precaution  of  discharging  my  artillery  just 
before  he  came  immediately  opposite ;  and  so, making 
a  good  calculation,  I  hit  my  mark.  One  of  the  frag- 
ments struck  him  in  the  face ;  the  rest  were  scattered 
on  the  mule,  which  fell  dead.  A  tremendous  uproar 
rose  up  from  the  trench ;  I  opened  fire  with  my  other 
piece,  doing  them  great  hurt.  The  man  turned  out 
to  be  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  was  carried  through 
the  trenches  to  a  certain  tavern  in  the  neighbourhood, 
whither  in  a  short  while  all  the  chief  folk  of  the  army 
came  together. 

When  Pope  Clement  heard  what  I  had  done,  he 
sent  at  once  to  call  for  me,  and  inquired  into  the 
circumstance.  I  related  the  whole,  and  added  that 
the  man  must  have  been  of  the  greatest  consequence, 

1  Passatojacci. 

[  180  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

because  the  inn  to  which  they  carried  him  had  been 
immediately  filled  by  all  the  chiefs  of  the  army,  so 
far  at  least  as  I  could  judge.  The  Pope,  with  a  shrewd 
instinct,  sent  for  Messer  Antonio  Santacroce,  the 
nobleman  who,  as  I  have  said,  was  chief  and  com- 
mander of  the  gunners.  He  bade  him  order  all  us 
bombardiers  to  point  our  pieces,  which  were  very 
numerous,  in  one  mass  upon  the  house,  and  to  dis- 
charge them  all  together  upon  the  signal  of  an  ar- 
quebuse  being  fired.  He  judged  that  if  we  killed  the 
generals,  the  army,  which  was"  already  almost  on 
the  point  of  breaking  up,  would  take  to  flight.  God 
perhaps  had  heard  the  prayers  they  kept  continually 
making,  and  meant  to  rid  them  in  this  manner  of 
those  impious  scoundrels. 

We  put  our  cannon  in  order  at  the  command  of 
Santacroce,  and  waited  for  the  signal.  But  when 
Cardinal  Orsini1  became  aware  of  what  was  going 
forward,  he  began  to  expostulate  with  the  Pope,  pro- 
testing that  the  thing  by  no  means  ought  to  happen, 
seeing  they  were  on  the  point  of  concluding  an  ac- 
commodation, and  that  if  the  generals  were  killed, 
the  rabble  of  the  troops  without  a  leader  would  storm 
the  castle  and  complete  their  utter  ruin.  Consequently 
they  could  by  no  means  allow  the  Pope's  plan  to 
be  carried  out.  The  poor  Pope,  in  despair,  seeing 
himself  assassinated  both  inside  the  castle  and  with- 
out, said  that  he  left  them  to  arrange  it.  On  this, 
our  orders  were  countermanded;  but  I,  who  chafed 

1  Franciotto  Orsini  'was  educated  in  the  household  of  his  kinsman  Lorenzo  de" 
Medici.  He  followed  the  profession  of  arms,  and  married  \  but  after  losing  his  'wife 
took  orders,  and  received  the  hat  in  1517. 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

against  the  leash,1  when  I  knew  that  they  were  com- 
ing round  to  bid  me  stop  from  firing,  let  blaze  one 
of  my  demi-cannons,  and  struck  a  pillar  in  the  court- 
yard of  the  house,  around  which  I  saw  a  crowd  of 
people  clustering.  This  shot  did  such  damage  to  the 
enemy  that  it  was  like  to  have  made  them  evacuate 
the  house.  Cardinal  Orsini  was  absolutely  for  having 
me  hanged  or  put  to  death;  but  the  Pope  took  up 
my  cause  with  spirit.  The  high  words  that  passed 
between  them,  though  I  well  know  what  they  were, 
I  will  not  here  relate,  because  I  make  no  profession  of 
writing  history.  It  is  enough  for  me  to  occupy  myself 
with  my  own  affairs. 

XXXIX 

After  I  had  melted  down  the  gold,  I  took  it  to  the 
Pope,  who  thanked  me  cordially  for  what  I  had  done, 
and  ordered  the  Cavalierino  to  give  me  twenty-five 
crowns,  apologising  to  me  for  his  inability  to  give 
me  more.  A  few  days  afterwards  the  articles  of  peace 
were  signed.  I  went  with  three  hundred  comrades 
in  the  train  of  Signor  Orazio  Baglioni  toward  Peru- 
gia; and  there  he  wished  to  make  me  captain  of  the 
company,  but  I  was  unwilling  at  the  moment,  saying 
that  I  wanted  first  to  go  and  see  my  father,  and  to 
redeem  the  ban  which  was  still  in  force  against  me  at 
Florence.  Signor  Orazio  told  me  that  he  had  been  ap- 
pointed general  of  the  Florentines ;  and  Sir  Pier  Maria 
del  Lotto,  the  envoy  from  Florence,  was  with  him,  to 
whom  he  specially  recommended  me  as  his  man.* 

1  Io  che  non  potevo  stare  alle  mosse. 

'Pier  Maria  dl  Lotto  of  S.  Miniato  was  notary  to  the  Florentine  Signoria.  He 

C  l82  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

In  course  of  time  I  came  to  Florence  in  the  com- 
pany of  several  comrades.  The  plague  was  raging 
with  indescribable  fury.  When  I  reached  home,  I 
found  my  good  father,  who  thought  either  that  I 
must  have  been  killed  in  the  sack  of  Rome,  or  else 
that  I  should  come  back  to  him  a  beggar.  However, 
I  entirely  defeated  both  these  expectations ;  for  I  was 
alive,  with  plenty  of  money,  a  fellow  to  wait  on  me, 
and  a  good  horse.  My  joy  on  greeting  the  old  man 
was  so  intense,  that,  while  he  embraced  and  kissed 
me,  I  thought  that  I  must  die  upon  the  spot.  After 
I  had  narrated  all  the  devilries  of  that  dreadful  sack, 
and  had  given  him  a  good  quantity  of  crowns  which 
I  had  gained  by  my  soldiering,  and  when  we  had 
exchanged  our  tokens  of  affection,  he  went  off  to  the 
Eight  to  redeem  my  ban.  It  so  happened  that  one  of 
those  magistrates  who  sentenced  me,  was  now  again 
a  member  of  the  board.  It  was  the  very  man  who  had 
so  inconsiderately  told  my  father  he  meant  to  march 
me  out  into  the  country  with  the  lances.  My  father 
took  this  opportunity  of  addressing  him  with  some 
meaning  words,  in  order -to  mark  his  revenge,  rely- 
ing on  the  favour  which  Orazio  Baglioni  showed  me. 

Matters  standing  thus,  I  told  my  father  how  Si- 
gnor  Orazio  had  appointed  me  captain,  and  that  I 
ought  to  begin  to  think  of  enlisting  my  company. 
At  these  words  the  poor  old  man  was  greatly  dis- 
turbed, and  begged  me  for  God's  sake  not  to  turn 
my  thoughts  to  such  an  enterprise,  although  he 
knew  I  should  be  fit  for  this  or  yet  a  greater  busi- 

cotteRed  the  remnants  of  the  Eande  Here,  and  gave  them  over  to  Orazio  Baglioni, 
who  contrived  to  escape  from  S.  Angela  in  safety  to  Perugia. 

I  183  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ness,  adding  that  his  other  son,  my  brother,  was 
already  a  most  valiant  soldier,  and  that  I  ought  to 
pursue  the  noble  art  in  which  I  had  laboured  so 
many  years  and  with  such  diligence  of  study.  Al- 
though I  promised  to  obey  him,  he  reflected,  like  a 
man  of  sense,  that  if  Signer  Orazio  came  to  Flor- 
ence, I  could  not  withdraw  myself  from  military 
service,  partly  because  I  had  passed  my  word,  as 
well  as  for  other  reasons.  He  therefore  thought  of 
a  good  expedient  for  sending  me  away,  and  spoke 
to  me  as  follows:  "Oh,  my  dear  son,  the  plague  in 
this  town  is  raging  with  immitigable  violence,  and 
I  am  always  fancying  you  will  come  home  infe6led 
with  it.  I  remember,  when  I  was  a  young  man,  that 
I  went  to  Mantua, where  I  was  very  kindly  received, 
and  stayed  there  several  years.  I  pray  and  com- 
mand you,  for  the  love  of  me,  to  pack  off  and  go 
thither ;  and  I  would  have  you  do  this  to-day  rather 
than  to-morrow/' 

XL 

I  had  always  taken  pleasure  in  seeing  the  world ;  and 
having  never  been  in  Mantua,  I  went  there  very 
willingly.  Of  the  money  I  had  brought  to  Florence, 
I  left  the  greater  part  with  my  good  father,  promis- 
ing to  help  him  wherever  I  might  be,  and  confiding 
him  to  the  care  of  my  elder  sister.  Her  name  was 
Cosa;  and  since  she  never  cared  to  marry,  she  was 
admitted  as  a  nun  in  Santa  Orsola;  but  she  put  off 
taking  the  veil,  in  order  to  keep  house  for  our  old 
father,  and  to  look  after  my  younger  sister,  who 
was  married  to  one  Bartolommeo, a  surgeon.  So  then, 

[  184  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

leaving  home  with  my  father's  blessing,  I  mounted 
my  good  horse,  and  rode  off  on  it  to  Mantua. 

It  would  take  too  long  to  describe  that  little  jour- 
ney in  detail.  The  whole  world  being  darkened 
over  with  plague  and  war,  I  had  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty in  reaching  Mantua.  However,  in  the  end,  I 
got  there,  and  looked  about  for  work  to  do,  which 
I  obtained  from  a  Maestro  Niccolo  of  Milan,  gold- 
smith to  the  Duke  of  Mantua.  Having  thus  settled 
down  to  work,  I  went  after  two  days  to  visit 
Messer  Giulio  Romano,  that  most  excellent  painter, 
of  whom  I  have  already  spoken,  and  my  very  good 
friend.  He  received  me  with  the  tenderest  caresses, 
and  took  it  very  ill  that  I  had  not  dismounted  at 
his  house.  He  was  living  like  a  lord,  and  executing 
a  great  work  for  the  Duke  outside  the  city  gates, 
in  a  place  called  Del  Te.  It  was  a  vast  and  prodi- 
gious undertaking,  as  may  still,  I  suppose,  be  seen 
by  those  who  go  there.1 

Messer  Giulio  lost  no  time  in  speaking  of  me  to 
the  Duke  in  terms  of  the  warmest  praise.*  That 
Prince  commissioned  me  to  make  a  model  for  a 
reliquary,  to  hold  the  blood  of  Christ,  which  they 
have  there,  and  say  was  brought  them  by  Longi- 
nus.  Then  he  turned  to  Giulio,  bidding  him  supply 
me  with  a  design  for  it.  To  this  Giulio  replied: 
"My  lord,  Benvenuto  is  a  man  who  does  not  need 
other  people's  sketches,  as  your  Excellency  will  be 
very  well  able  to  judge  when  you  shall  see  his 

1  This  is  the  famous  Palazzo  del  Te,  outside  the  'walls  of  Mantua.  It  still  remains 
the  chief  monument  of  Giulio  Romano's  'versatile  genius. 

2  Federigo  Gonzago  ewas  at  this  time  Marquis  of  Mantua.  Charles  V.  erecled  his 
fief  into  a  duchy  in  1 530. 

C   185   3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

model/'  I  set  hand  to  the  work,  and  made  a  draw- 
ing for  the  reliquary,  well  adapted  to  contain  the 
sacred  phial.  Then  I  made  a  little  waxen  model  of 
the  cover.  This  was  a  seated  Christ,  supporting  his 
great  cross  aloft  with  the  left  hand,  while  he  seemed 
to  lean  against  it,  and  with  the  fingers  of  his  right 
hand  he  appeared  to  be  opening  the  wound  in  his 
side.  When  it  was  finished,  it  pleased  the  Duke  so 
much  that  he  heaped  favours  on  me,  and  gave  me 
to  understand  that  he  would  keep  me  in  his  service 
with  such  appointments  as  should  enable  me  to  live 
in  affluence. 

Meanwhile,  I  had  paid  my  duty  to  the  Cardinal  his 
brother,  who  begged  the  Duke  to  allow  me  to  make 
the  pontifical  seal  of  his  most  reverend  lordship.1  This 
I  began;  but  while  I  was  working  at  it  I  caught  a 
quartan  fever.  During  each  access  of  this  fever  I  was 
thrown  into  delirium,  when  I  cursed  Mantua  and  its 
master  and  whoever  stayed  there  at  his  own  liking. 
These  words  were  reported  to  the  Duke  by  the  Mi- 
lanese goldsmith,  who  had  not  omitted  to  notice  that 
the  Duke  wanted  to  employ  me.  When  the  Prince 
heard  the  ravings  of  my  sickness,  he  flew  into  a  pas- 
sion against  me ;  and  I  being  out  of  temper  with  Man- 
tua,-our  bad  feeling  was  reciprocal.  The  seal  was  fin- 
ished after  four  months,  together  with  several  other 
little  pieces  I  made  for  the  Duke  under  the  name  of 
the  Cardinal.  His  Reverence  paid  me  well,  and  bade 


1  Ercole  Gonzaga,  created  Cardinal  in  1527.  After  the  death  of  his  brother,  Duke 
Federigo,  he  governed  Mantua  for  sixteen  yean  as  regent  for  his  nephews,  and  be- 
came famous  as  a  patron  of  arts  and  letters.  He  died  at  Trento  in  1563  Awhile  pre- 
siding over  the  Council  there,  in  the  pontificate  of  Pius  IV. 

[   186  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

me  return  to  Rome,  to  that  marvellous  city  where 
we  had  made  acquaintance. 

I  quitted  Mantua  with  a  good  sum  of  crowns,  and 
reached  Governo,  where  the  most  valiant  general 
Giovanni  had  been  killed.1  Here  I  had  a  slight  re- 
lapse of  fever,  which  did  not  interrupt  my  journey, 
and  coming  now  to  an  end,  it  never  returned  on  me 
again.  When  I  arrived  at  Florence,  I  hoped  to  find 
my  dear  father,  and  knocking  at  the  door,  a  hump- 
backed woman  in  a  fury  showed  her  face  at  the 
window ;  she  drove  me  off  with  a  torrent  of  abuse, 
screaming  that  the  sight  of  me  was  a  consumption  to 
her.  To  this  misshapen  hag  I  shouted:  "Ho!  tell  me, 
cross-grained  hunchback,  is  there  no  other  face  to 
see  here  but  your  ugly  visage?"  "No,  and  bad  luck 
to  you."  Whereto  I  answered  in  a  loud  voice:  "In 
less  than  two  hours  may  it2  never  vex  us  more ! "  At- 
tracted by  this  dispute,  a  neighbour  put  her  head  out, 
from  whom  I  learned  that  my  father  and  all  the  peo- 
ple in  the  house  had  died  of  the  plague.  As  I  had 
partly  guessed  it  might  be  so,  my  grief  was  not  so 
great  as  it  would  otherwise  have  been.  The  woman 
afterwards  told  me  that  only  my  sister  Liperata  had 
escaped,  and  that  she  had  taken  refuge  with  a  pious 
lady  named  Mona  Andrea  de'  Bellacci.3 

I  took  my  way  from  thence  to  the  inn,  and  met  by 
accident  a  very  dear  friend  of  mine,  Giovanni  Rigo- 
gli.  Dismounting  at  his  house,  we  proceeded  to  the 
piazza,  where  I  received  intelligence  that  my  brother 

1  Giovanni  di  Medici,  surnamed  Delle  Bande  Nere. 
*i.e.,your  ugly  'visage. 

3  Carpani  states  that  between  May  and  November  1 527  about  40,000  persons  died 
of  plague  in  Florence. 

c  is? : 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

was  alive,  and  went  to  find  him  at  the  house  of  a 
friend  of  his  called  Bertino  Aldobrandini.  On  meet- 
ing, we  made  demonstrations  of  the  most  passionate 
affection ;  for  he  had  heard  that  I  was  dead,  and  I  had 
heard  that  he  was  dead ;  and  so  our  joy  at  embracing 
one  another  was  extravagant.  Then  he  broke  out 
into  a  loud  fit  of  laughter,  and  said :  "  Come,  brother, 
I  will  take  you  where  I  'm  sure  you  'd  never  guess ! 
You  must  know  that  I  have  given  our  sister  Liperata 
away  again  in  marriage,  and  she  holds  it  for  abso- 
lutely certain  that  you  are  dead. "On  our  way  we  told 
each  other  all  the  wonderful  adventures  we  had  met 
with ;  and  when  we  reached  the  house  where  our  sis- 
ter dwelt,  the  surprise  of  seeing  me  alive  threw  her 
into  a  fainting  fit,  and  she  fell  senseless  in  my  arms. 
Had  not  my  brother  been  present,  her  speechlessness 
and  sudden  seizure  must  have  made  her  husband 
imagine  I  was  some  one  different  from  a  brother — 
as  indeed  at  first  it  did.  Cecchino,  however,  explained 
matters,  and  busied  himself  in  helping  the  swooning 
woman,  who  soon  came  to.  Then, after  shedding  some 
tears  for  father,  sister,  husband,  and  a  little  son  whom 
she  had  lost,  she  began  to  get  the  supper  ready; 
and  during  our  merry  meeting  all  that  evening  we 
talked  no  more  about  dead  folk, but  rather  discoursed 
gaily  about  weddings.  Thus,  then,  with  gladness  and 
great  enjoyment  we  brought  our  supper-party  to  an 

end. 

XLI 

On  the  entreaty  of  my  brother  and  sister,  I  remained 
at  Florence,  though  my  own  inclination  led  me  to 
return  to  Rome.  The  dear  friend,  also,  who  had 

188 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

helped  me  in  some  of  my  earlier  troubles,  as  I  have 
narrated  (I  mean  Piero,  son  of  Giovanni  Landi)- 
he  too  advised  me  to  make  some  stay  in  Florence ; 
for  the  Medici  were  in  exile,  that  is  to  say,  Signer 
Ippolito  and  Signor  Alessandro,  who  were  after- 
wards respectively  Cardinal  and  Duke  of  Florence; 
and  he  judged  it  would  be  well  for  me  to  wait  and 
see  what  happened.1 

At  that  time  there  arrived  in  Florence  a  Sienese, 
called  Girolamo  Marretti,  who  had  lived  long  in  Tur- 
key and  was  a  man  of  lively  intellect.  He  came  to 
my  shop,  and  commissioned  me  to  make  a  golden 
medal  to  be  worn  in  the  hat.  The  subject  was  to  be 
Hercules  wrenching  the  lion's  mouth.  While  I  was 
working  at  this  piece,  Michel  Agnolo  Buonarroti 
came  oftentimes  to  see  it.  I  had  spent  infinite  pains 
upon  the  design,  so  that  the  attitude  of  the  figure 
and  the  fierce  passion  of  the  beast  were  executed  in 
quite  a  different  style  from  that  of  any  craftsman 
who  had  hitherto  attempted  such  groups.  This,  to- 
gether with  the  fact  that  the  special  branch  of  art 
was  totally  unknown  to  Michel  Agnolo,  made  the 
divine  master  give  such  praises  to  my  work  that  I 
felt  incredibly  inspired  for  further  effort.  However, 
I  found  little  else  to  do  but  jewel-setting ;  and  though 
I  gained  more  thus  than  in  any  other  way,  yet  I  was 

1 1  may  remind  my  readers  that  the  three  Medici  of  the  ruling  house  <wzre  now  il- 
legitimate. Clement  VII.  'was  the  bastard  son  of  Giuliano,  brother  of  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent.  Ippolito,  the  Cardinal, 'was  the  bastard  of  Giuliano,  Duke  of  Nemours, 
son  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent.  Alessandro  nvas  the  reputed  bastard  of  Lorenzo, 
Duke  of  Urbino,  grandson  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent.  Alessandro  became  Duke 
of  Florence,  and  after  poisoning  his  cousin  Cardinal  Ippolito,  nvas  murdered  by  a 
distant  cousin,  Lorenzino  de"  Medici.  In  this  'way  the  male  line  of  Lorenzo  the  Mag- 
nificent nuas  extinguished. 

C   189  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

dissatisfied,  for  I  would  fain  have  been  employed 
upon  some  higher  task  than  that  of  setting  precious 
stones. 

Just  then  I  met  with  Federigo  Ginori,  a  young 
man  of  a  very  lofty  spirit.  He  had  lived  some  years 
in  Naples,  and  being  endowed  with  great  charms  of 
person  and  presence,  had  been  the  lover  of  a  Nea- 
politan princess.  He  wanted  to  have  a  medal  made, 
with  Atlas  bearing  the  world  upon  his  shoulders, 
and  applied  to  Michel  Agnolo  for  a  design.  Michel 
Agnolo  made  this  answer: "  Go  and  find  out  a  young 
goldsmith  named  Benvenuto ;  he  will  serve  you  ad- 
mirably, and  certainly  he  does  not  stand  in  need  of 
sketches  by  me.  However,  to  prevent  your  thinking 
that  I  want  to  save  myself  the  trouble  of  so  slight 
a  matter,  I  will  gladly  sketch  you  something;  but 
meanwhile  speak  to  Benvenuto,  and  let  him  also  make 
a  model ;  he  can  then  execute  the  better  of  the  two 
designs."  Federigo  Ginori  came  to  me,  and  told 
me  what  he  wanted,  adding  thereto  how  Michel  Ag- 
nolo had  praised  me,  and  how  he  had  suggested  I 
should  make  a  waxen  model  while  he  undertook  to 
supply  a  sketch.  The  words  of  that  great  man  so 
heartened  me,  that  I  set  myself  to  work  at  once  with 
eagerness  upon  the  model ;  and  when  I  had  finished 
it,  a  painter  who  was  intimate  with  Michel  Agnolo, 
called  Giuliano  Bugiardini,  brought  me  the  drawing 
of  Atlas.1  On  the  same  occasion  I  showed  Giuliano 
my  little  model  in  wax,  which  was  very  different  from 

1  This  painter  'was  the  pupil  of  Bertoldo,  a  man  of  simple  manners  and  of  some  ex- 
cellence in  his  art.  The  gallery  at  Bologna  has  a  fine  specimen  cf  his  painting.  Michel 
Agnolo  delighted  in  his  society. 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Michel  Agnolo's  drawing ;  and  Federigo,  in  concert 
with  Bugiardini,  agreed  that  I  should  work  upon  my 
model.  So  I  took  it  in  hand,  and  when  Michel  Ag- 
nolo  saw  it,  he  praised  me  to  the  skies.  This  was  a 
figure,  as  I  have  said,  chiselled  on  a  plate  of  gold; 
Atlas  had  the  heaven  upon  his  back,  made  out  of  a 
crystal  ball,  engraved  with  the  zodiac  upon  a  field 
of  lapis-lazuli.  The  whole  composition  produced  an 
indescribably  fine  eflFecl: ;  and  under  it  ran  the  legend 
Summa  tulisse  juvat.1  Federigo  was  so  thoroughly 
well  pleased  that  he  paid  me  very  liberally.  Aluigi 
Alamanni  was  at  that  time  in  Florence.  Federigo 
Ginori,who  enjoyed  his  friendship, brought  him  often 
to  my  workshop,  and  through  this  introduction  we 
became  very  intimate  together.8 

XLII 

Pope  Clement  had  now  declared  war  upon  the  city 
of  Florence,  which  thereupon  was  put  in  a  state  of 
defence;  and  the  militia  being  organised  in  each 
quarter  of  the  town,  I  too  received  orders  to  serve 
in  my  turn.  I  provided  myself  with  a  rich  outfit,  and 
went  about  with  the  highest  nobility  of  Florence, 
who  showed  a  unanimous  desire  to  fight  for  the  de- 
fence of  our  liberties.  Meanwhile  the  speeches  which 
are  usual  upon  such  occasions  were  made  in  every 
quarter;1  the  young  men  met  together  more  than 

'  Cellini  says  Summam. 

*  This  'was  the  agreeable  didaflic  poet  Luigi  Alamanni,  'who  had  to  fly  from  Flor- 
ence after  a  conspiracy  against  Cardinal  Giulio  de*  Medici  in  1522.  He  could  never 
reconcile  himself  to  the  Medicean  tyranny,  and  finally  took  refuge  in  France,  where 
he  'was  honoured  by  Francois  I.  He  died  at  Amboise  in  1556. 

*  Fecesi  quclle  orazioni.  It  may  mean  "the  prayers  'were  offered  up." 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

was  their  wont,  and  everywhere  we  had  but  one  topic 
of  conversation. 

It  happened  one  day,  about  noon,  that  a  crowd  of 
tall  men  and  lusty  young  fellows,  the  first  in  the 
city,  were  assembled  in  my  workshop,  when  a  letter 
from  Rome  was  put  into  my  hands.  It  came  from  a 
man  called  Maestro  Giacopino  della  Barca.  His  real 
name  was  Giacopo  della  Sciorina,  but  they  called 
him  della  Barca  in  Rome,  because  he  kept  a  ferry 
boat  upon  the  Tiber  between  Ponte  Sisto  and  Ponte 
Santo  Agnolo.  He  was  a  person  of  considerable  tal- 
ent, distinguished  by  his  pleasantries  and  striking 
conversation,  and  he  had  formerly  been  a  designer 
of  patterns  for  the  cloth-weavers  in  Florence.  This 
man  was  intimate  with  the  Pope,  who  took  great 
pleasure  in  hearing  him  talk.  Being  one  day  engaged 
in  conversation,  they  touched  upon  the  sack  and  the 
defence  of  the  castle.  This  brought  me  to  the  Pope's 
mind,  and  he  spoke  of  me  in  the  very  highest  terms, 
adding  that  if  he  knew  where  I  was,  he  should  be 
glad  to  get  me  back.  Maestro  Giacopo  said  I  was  in 
Florence ;  whereupon  the  Pope  bade  the  man  write 
and  tell  me  to  return  to  him.  The  letter  I  have  men- 
tioned was  to  the  effect  that  I  should  do  well  if  I  re- 
sumed the  service  of  Clement,  and  that  this  was  sure 
to  turn  out  to  my  advantage. 

The  young  men  who  were  present  were  curious 
to  know  what  the  letter  contained ;  wherefore  I  con- 
cealed it  as  well  as  I  could.  Afterwards  I  wrote  to 
Maestro  Giacopo,  begging  him  by  no  means,  whether 
for  good  or  evil,  to  write  to  me  again.  He  however 
grew  more  obstinate  in  his  officiousness,  and  wrote 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

me  another  letter,  so  extravagantly  worded,  that  if  it 
had  been  seen,  I  should  have  got  into  serious  trou- 
ble. The  substance  of  it  was  that  the  Pope  required 
me  to  come  at  once,  wanting  to  employ  me  on  work 
of  the  greatest  consequence ;  also  that  if  I  wished  to 
a£t  aright,  I  ought  to  throw  up  everything,  and  not 
to  stand  against  a  Pope  in  the  party  of  those  hare- 
brained Radicals.  This  letter,  when  I  read  it,  put  me 
in  such  a  fright,  that  I  went  to  seek  my  dear  friend 
Piero  Landi.  Dire6lly  he  set  eyes  on  me,  he  asked 
what  accident  had  happened  to  upset  me  so.  I  told 
my  friend  that  it  was  quite  impossible  for  me  to  ex- 
plain what  lay  upon  my  mind,  and  what  was  caus- 
ing me  this  trouble ;  only  I  entreated  him  to  take  the 
keys  I  gave  him,  and  to  return  the  gems  and  gold 
in  my  drawers  to  such  and  such  persons,  whose 
names  he  would  find  inscribed  upon  my  memoran- 
dum-book ;  next,  I  begged  him  to  pack  up  the  fur- 
niture of  my  house,  and  keep  account  of  it  with  his 
usual  loving-kindness ;  and  in  a  few  days  he  should 
hear  where  I  was.  The  prudent  young  man,  guess- 
ing perhaps  pretty  nearly  how  the  matter  stood,  re- 
plied: "  My  brother,  go  your  ways  quickly;  then 
write  to  me,  and  have  no  further  care  about  your 
things."  I  did  as  he  advised.  He  was  the  most  loyal 
friend,  the  wisest,  the  most  worthy,  the  most  dis- 
creet, the  most  affectionate  that  I  have  ever  known. 
I  left  Florence  and  went  to  Rome,  and  from  there  I 
wrote  to  him.1 


1  Cellini  has  been  severely  taxed  for  leaving  Florence  at  this  juncture  and  taking 
service  under  Pope  Clement,  the  oppressor  of  her  liberties.  His  own  narrative  ad- 
mits some  sense  of  shame.  Yet  <we  should  remember  that  he  never  took  any  decided 

C   193   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

XLIII 

Upon  my  arrival  in  Rome,  I  found  several  of  my 
former  friends,  by  whom  I  was  very  well  received 
and  kindly  entertained.  No  time  was  lost  before  I 
set  myself  to  work  at  things  which  brought  me  pro- 
fit, but  were  not  notable  enough  to  be  described. 
There  was  a  fine  old  man,  a  goldsmith,  called  Raf- 
faello  del  Moro,  who  had  considerable  reputation  in 
the  trade,  and  was  to  boot  a  very  worthy  fellow. 
He  begged  me  to  consent  to  enter  his  workshop,  say- 
ing he  had  some  commissions  of  importance  to  ex- 
ecute, on  which  high  profits  might  be  looked  for;  so 
I  accepted  his  proposal  with  good-will. 

More  than  ten  days  had  elapsed,  and  I  had  not  pre- 
sented myself  to  Maestro  Giacopino  della  Barca. 
Meeting  me  one  day  by  accident,  he  gave  me  a 
hearty  welcome,  and  asked  me  how  long  I  had  been 
in  Rome.  When  I  told  him  I  had  been  there  about 
a  fortnight,  he  took  it  very  ill,  and  said  that  I  showed 
little  esteem  for  a  Pope  who  had  urgently  compelled 
him  to  write  three  times  for  me.  I,  who  had  taken 
his  persistence  in  the  matter  still  more  ill,  made  no 
reply,  but  swallowed  down  my  irritation.  The  man, 
who  suffered  from  a  flux  of  words,  began  one  of  his 
long  yarns,  and  went  on  talking,  till  at  the  last,  when 
I  saw  him  tired  out,  I  merely  said  that  he  might  bring 
me  to  the  Pope  when  he  saw  fit.  He  answered  that 

part  in  politics,  and  belonged  to  a  family  of  Medicean  sympathies.  His  father  served 
Lorenzo  and  Piero ;  his  brother  'was  a  soldier  of  Giovanni  delle  Bande  Nere  and 
Duke  Alessandro.  Many  most  excellent  Florentines  'were  convinced  that  the  Me- 
dicean government  vjas  beneficial;  and  an  artist  had  certainly  more  to  expecJ  from 
it  than  from  the  Republic. 

C    194  H 


LCOX.GIULIO     OE    MEDICI     AND     L.DE    ROSSI 
( RAPHAEL i 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

any  time  would  do  for  him ;  and  I,  that  I  was  always 
ready.  So  we  took  our  way  toward  the  palace.  It 
was  a  Maundy  Thursday;  and  when  we  reached  the 
apartments  of  the  Pope,  he  being  known  there  and 
I  expe6led,  we  were  at  once  admitted. 

The  Pope  was  in  bed,  suffering  from  a  slight  in- 
disposition, and  he  had  with  him  Messer  Jacopo  Sal- 
viati  and  the  Archbishop  of  Capua.1  When  the  Pope 
set  eyes  on  me,  he  was  exceedingly  glad.  I  kissed 
his  feet,  and  then,  as  humbly  as  I  could,  drew  near 
to  him,  and  let  him  understand  that  I  had  things  of 
consequence  to  utter.  On  this  he  waved  his  hand, 
and  the  two  prelates  retired  to  a  distance  from  us. 
I  began  at  once  to  speak : "  Most  blessed  Father,  from 
the  time  of  the  sack  up  to  this  hour,  I  have  never 
been  able  to  confess  or  to  communicate,  because  they 
refuse  me  absolution.  The  case  is  this.  When  I 
melted  down  the  gold  and  worked  at  the  unsetting 
of  those  jewels,  your  Holiness  ordered  the  Cava- 
lierino  to  give  me  a  modest  reward  for  my  labours, 
of  which  I  received  nothing,  but  on  the  contrary  he 
rather  paid  me  with  abuse.  When  then  I  ascended 
to  the  chamber  where  I  had  melted  down  the  gold, 
and  washed  the  ashes,  I  found  about  a  pound  and  a 
half  of  gold  in  tiny  grains  like  millet-seeds ;  and  in- 
asmuch as  I  had  not  money  enough  to  take  me  home 
respectably,  I  thought  I  would  avail  myself  of  this, 
and  give  it  back  again  when  opportunity  should  offer. 
Now  I  am  here  at  the  feet  of  your  Holiness,  who  is 

*  Nicolas  Schomberg,  a  learned  Dominican  and  disciple  of  Savonarola,  made  Arch- 
bishop of  Capua  in  1520.  He  was  a  faithful  and  able  minister  of  Clement.  Paul  III. 
ga-ve  him  the  hat  in  1535,  and  he  died  in  1537. 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

the  only  true  confessor.  I  entreat  you  to  do  me  the 
favour  of  granting  me  indulgence,  so  that  I  may  be 
able  to  confess  and  communicate,  and  by  the  grace 
of  your  Holiness  regain  the  grace  of  my  Lord  God." 
Upon  this  the  Pope,  with  a  scarcely  perceptible  sigh, 
remembering  perhaps  his  former  trials,  spoke  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Benvenuto,  I  thoroughly  believe  what  you 
tell  me ;  it  is  in  my  power  to  absolve  you  of  any  un- 
becoming deed  you  may  have  done,  and,  what  is 
more,  I  have  the  will.  So,  then,  speak  out  with  frank- 
ness and  perfect  confidence ;  for  if  you  had  taken  the 
value  of  a  whole  tiara,  I  am  quite  ready  to  pardon 
you."  Thereupon  I  answered :  "  I  took  nothing,  most 
blessed  Father,  but  what  I  have  confessed ;  and  this 
did  not  amount  to  the  value  of  140  ducats,  for  that 
was  the  sum  I  received  from  the  Mint  in  Perugia, 
and  with  it  I  went  home  to  comfort  my  poor  old 
father."  The  Pope  said:  "Your  father  has  been  as 
virtuous,  good,  and  worthy  a  man  as  was  ever  born, 
and  you  have  not  degenerated  from  him.  I  am  very 
sorry  that  the  money  was  so  little ;  but  such  as  you 
say  it  was,  I  make  you  a  present  of  it,  and  give  you 
my  full  pardon.  Assure  your  confessor  of  this,  if 
there  is  nothing  else  upon  your  conscience  which 
concerns  me.  Afterwards,  when  you  have  confessed 
and  communicated,  you  shall  present  yourself  to  me 
again,  and  it  will  be  to  your  advantage." 

When  I  parted  from  the  Pope,  Messer  Giacopo 
and  the  Archbishop  approached,  and  the  Pope  spoke 
to  them  in  the  highest  terms  imaginable  about  me ; 
he  said  that  he  had  confessed  and  absolved  me ;  then 
he  commissioned  the  Archbishop  of  Capua  to  send 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

for  me  and  ask  if  I  had  any  other  need  beyond  this 
matter,  giving  him  full  leave  to  absolve  me  amply, 
and  bidding  him,  moreover,  treat  me  with  the  utmost 
kindness. 

While  I  was  walking  away  with  Maestro  Giaco- 
pino,  he  asked  me  very  inquisitively  what  was  the 
close  and  lengthy  conversation  I  had  had  with  his 
Holiness.  After  he  had  repeated  the  question  more 
than  twice,  I  said  that  I  did  not  mean  to  tell  him, 
because  they  were  matters  with  which  he  had  no- 
thing to  do,  and  therefore  he  need  not  go  on  asking 
me.  Then  I  went  to  do  what  had  been  agreed  on 
with  the  Pope;  and  after  the  two  festivals  were  over, 
I  again  presented  myself  before  his  Holiness.  He 
received  me  even  better  than  before,  and  said :  "  If 
you  had  come  a  little  earlier  to  Rome,  I  should  have 
commissioned  you  to  restore  my  two  tiaras,  which 
were  pulled  to  pieces  in  the  castle.  These,  however, 
with  the  exception  of  the  gems,  are  objects  of  little 
artistic  interest ;  so  I  will  employ  you  on  a  piece  of 
the  very  greatest  consequence,  where  you  will  be 
able  to  exhibit  all  your  talents.  It  is  a  button  for  my 
priest's  cope,  which  has  to  be  made  round  like  a 
trencher,  and  as  big  as  a  little  trencher,  one-third 
of  a  cubit  wide.  Upon  this  I  want  you  to  represent 
a  God  the  Father  in  half-relief,  and  in  the  middle 
to  set  that  magnificent  big  diamond,  which  you  re- 
member, together  with  several  other  gems  of  the 
greatest  value.  Caradosso  began  to  make  me  one,  but 
did  not  finish  it;  I  want  yours  to  be  finished  quickly, 
so  that  I  may  enjoy  the  use  of  it  a  little  while.  Go, 
then,  and  make  me  a  fine  model."  He  had  all  the 

C   197  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

jewels  shown  me,  and  then  I  went  off  like  a  shot1  to 
set  myself  to  work. 

XLIV 

During  the  time  when  Florence  was  besieged, 
Federigo  Ginori,  for  whom  I  made  that  medal  of 
Atlas,  died  of  consumption,  and  the  medal  came  into 
the  hands  of  Messer  Luigi  Alamanni,  who,  after  a 
little  while,  took  it  to  present  in  person  to  Francis, 
king  of  France,  accompanied  by  some  of  his  own 
finest  compositions.  The  King  was  exceedingly  de- 
lighted with  the  gift ;  whereupon  Messer  Luigi  told 
his.  Majesty  so  much  about  my  personal  qualities, 
as  well  as  my  art,  and  spoke  so  favourably,  that  the 
King  expressed  a  wish  to  know  me. 

Meanwhile  I  pushed  my  model  for  the  button  for- 
ward with  all  the  diligence  I  could,  constructing  it 
exactly  of  the  size  which  the  jewel  itself  was  meant 
to  have.  In  the  trade  of  the  goldsmiths  it  roused 
considerable  jealousy  among  those  who  thought  that 
they  were  capable  of  matching  it.  A  certain  Miche- 
letto  had  just  come  to  Rome;2  he  was  very  clever  at 
engraving  cornelians,  and  was,  moreover,  a  most 
intelligent  jeweller,  an  old  man  and  of  great  cele- 
brity. He  had  been  employed  upon  the  Pope's  tiaras ; 
and  while  I  was  working  at  my  model,  he  wondered 
much  that  I  had  not  applied  to  him,  being  as  he  was 
a  man  of  intelligence  and  of  large  credit  with  the 
Pope.  At  last,  when  he  saw  that  I  was  not  coming 
to  him,  he  came  to  me,  and  asked  me  what  I  was 

1  Affusolato.  Lit.,  straight  as  a  spindle. 

*  Vasari  calls  this  eminent  engraver  of  gems  Michelino. 

[     198    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

about.  "What  the  Pope  has  ordered  me/'  I  an- 
swered. Then  he  said:  "The  Pope  has  commissioned 
me  to  superintend  everything  which  is  being  made 
for  his  Holiness."  I  only  replied  that  I  would  ask 
the  Pope,  and  then  should  know  what  answer  I 
ought  to  give  him.  He  told  me  that  I  should  repent, 
and  departing  in  anger,  had  an  interview  with  all 
the  masters  of  the  art ;  they  deliberated  on  the  mat- 
ter, and  charged  Michele  with  the  conduct  of  the 
whole  affair.  As  was  to  be  expected  from  a  person 
of  his  talents,  he  ordered  more  than  thirty  drawings 
to  be  made,  all  differing  in  their  details,  for  the  piece 
the  Pope  had  commissioned. 

Having  already  access  to  his  Holiness's  ear,  he 
took  into  his  counsel  another  jeweller,  named  Pom- 
peo,  a  Milanese,  who  was  in  favour  with  the  Pope, 
and  related  to  Messer  Traiano,  the  first  chamber- 
lain of  the  court;1  these  two  together,  then,  began 
to  insinuate  that  they  had  seen  my  model,  and  did 
not  think  me  up  to  a  work  of  such  extraordinary 
import.  The  Pope  replied  that  he  would  also  have 
to  see  it,  and  that  if  he  then  found  me  unfit  for  the 
purpose,  he  should  look  around  for  one  who  was 
fit.  Both  of  them  put  in  that  they  had  several  ex- 
cellent designs  ready;  to  which  the  Pope  made 
answer,  that  he  was  very  pleased  to  hear  it,  but 
that  he  did  not  care  to  look  at  them  till  I  had  com- 
pleted my  model;  afterwards,  he  would  take  them 
all  into  consideration  at  the  same  time. 

After  a  few  days  I  finished  my  model,  and  took 
it  to  the  Pope  one  morning,  when  Messer  Traiano 

1  Messer  Traiano  Alicorno. 

C    199  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

made  me  wait  till  he  had  sent  for  Micheletto  and 
Pompeo,  bidding  them  make  haste  and  bring  their 
drawings.  On  their  arrival  we  were  introduced,  and 
Micheletto  and  Pompeo  immediately  unrolled  their 
papers,  which  the  Pope  inspected.  The  draughts- 
men who  had  been  employed  were  not  in  the  jew- 
eller's trade,  and  therefore  knew  nothing  about 
giving  their  right  place  to  precious  stones ;  and  the 
jewellers,  on  their  side,  had  not  shown  them  how; 
for  I  ought  to  say  that  a  jeweller,  when  he  has  to 
work  with  figures,  must  of  necessity  understand  de- 
sign, else  he  cannot  produce  anything  worth  look- 
ing at:  and  so  it  turned  out  that  all  of  them  had 
stuck  that  famous  diamond  in  the  middle  of  the 
breast  of  God  the  Father.  The  Pope,  who  was  an 
excellent  connoisseur,  observing  this  mistake,  ap- 
proved of  none  of  them ;  and  when  he  had  looked  at 
about  ten,  he  flung  the  rest  down,  and  said  to  me, 
who  was  standing  at  a  distance:  "Now  show  me 
your  model,  Benvenuto,  so  that  I  may  see  if  you 
have  made  the  same  mistake  as  those  fellows."  I 
came  forward,  and  opened  a  little  round  box ;  where- 
upon one  would  have  thought  that  a  light  from 
heaven  had  struck  the  Pope's  eyes.  He  cried  aloud : 
"  If  you  had  been  in  my  own  body,  you  could  not 
have  done  it  better,  as  this  proves.  Those  men  there 
have  found  the  right  way  to  bring  shame  upon  them- 
selves !"  A  crowd  of  great  lords  pressing  round,  the 
Pope  pointed  out  the  difference  between  my  model 
and  the  drawings.  When  he  had  sufficiently  com- 
mended it,  the  others  standing  terrified  and  stupid 
before  him,  he  turned  to  me  and  said:  "I  am  only 

C  2°°  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

afraid  of  one  thing,  and  that  is  of  the  utmost  con- 
sequence. Friend  Benvenuto,  wax  is  easy  to  work 
in;  the  real  difficulty  is  to  execute  this  in  gold/'  To 
those  words  I  answered  without  a  moment's  hesita- 
tion: "Most  blessed  Father,  if  I  do  not  work  it  ten 
times  better  than  the  model,  let  it  be  agreed  before- 
hand that  you  pay  me  nothing."  When  they  heard 
this,  the  noblemen  made  a  great  stir,  crying  out  that 
I  was  promising  too  much.  Among  them  was  an 
eminent  philosopher,  who  spoke  out  in  my  favour: 
"From  the  fine  physiognomy  and  bodily  symmetry 
which  I  observe  in  this  young  man,  I  predi6l  that 
he  will  accomplish  what  he  says,  and  think  that  he 
will  even  go  beyond  it."  The  Pope  put  in:  "And 
this  is  my  opinion  also."  Then  he  called  his  cham- 
berlain, Messer  Traiano,  and  bade  him  bring  five 
hundred  golden  ducats  of  the  Camera. 

While  we  were  waiting  for  the  money,  the  Pope 
turned  once  more  to  gaze  at  leisure  on  the  dexter- 
ous device  I  had  employed  for  combining  the  dia- 
mond with  the  figure  of  God  the  Father.  I  had  put 
the  diamond  exactly  in  the  centre  of  the  piece ;  and 
above  it  God  the  Father  was  shown  seated,  leaning 
nobly  in  a  sideways  attitude,1  which  made  a  perfect 
composition,  and  did  not  interfere  with  the  stone's 
effect.  Lifting  his  right  hand,  he  was  in  the  acl  of 
giving  the  benedi<5lion.  Below  the  diamond  I  had 
placed  three  children, who,  with  their  arms  upraised, 
were  supporting  the  jewel.  One  of  them,  in  the  mid- 
dle, was  in  full  relief,  the  other  two  in  half-relief. 
All  round  I  set  a  crowd  of  cherubs,  in  divers  atti- 

1  In  un  certo  bel  modo  s*volto.  That  means :  turned  aside,  not  fronting  the  spectator. 

C    201    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

tudes,  adapted  to  the  other  gems.  A  mantle  undu- 
lated to  the  wind  around  the  figure  of  the  Father, 
from  the  folds  of  which  cherubs  peeped  out;  and 
there  were  other  ornaments  besides  which  made  a 
very  beautiful  effedl.  The  work  was  executed  in 
white  stucco  on  a  black  stone.  When  the  money 
came,  the  Pope  gave  it  me  with  his  own  hand,  and 
begged  me  in  the  most  winning  terms  to  let  him 
have  it  finished  in  his  own  days,  adding  that  this 
should  be  to  my  advantage. 

XLV 

I  took  the  money  and  the  model  home,  and  was  in 
the  utmost  impatience  to  begin  my  work.  After  I 
had  laboured  diligently  for  eight  days,  the  Pope 
sent  word  by  one  of  his  chamberlains,  a  very  great 
gentleman  of  Bologna,  that  I  was  to  come  to  him  and 
bring  what  I  had  got  in  hand.  On  the  way,  the  cham- 
berlain, who  was  the  most  gentle-mannered  person 
in  the  Roman  court,  told  me  that  the  Pope  not  only 
wanted  to  see  what  I  was  doing,  but  also  intended 
to  intrust  me  with  another  task  of  the  highest  con- 
sequence, which  was,  in  fa6l,  to  furnish  dies  for  the 
money  of  the  Mint;  and  bade  me  arm  myself  be- 
forehand with  the  answer  I  should  give;  in  short,  he 
wished  me  to  be  prepared,  and  therefore  he  had 
spoken.  When  we  came  into  the  presence,  I  lost  no 
time  in  exhibiting  the  golden  plate,  upon  which  I 
had  as  yet  carved  nothing  but  my  figure  of  God  the 
Father ;  but  this,  though  only  in  the  rough,  displayed 
a  grander  style  than  that  of  the  waxen  model.  The 
Pope  regarded  it  with  stupefaction,  and  exclaimed: 

202 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

"From  this  moment  forward  I  will  believe  every- 
thing you  say."  Then  loading  me  with  marks  of 
favour,  he  added :  "  It  is  my  intention  to  give  you 
another  commission,  which,  if  you  feel  competent  to 
execute  it,  I  shall  have  no  less  at  heart  than  this,  or 
more."  He  proceeded  to  tell  me  that  he  wished  to 
make  dies  for  the  coinage  of  his  realm,  and  asked 
me  if  I  had  ever  tried  my  hand  at  such  things,  and 
if  I  had  the  courage  to  attempt  them.  I  answered 
that  of  courage  for  the  task  I  had  no  lack,  and  that 
I  had  seen  how  dies  were  made,  but  that  I  had  not 
ever  made  any.  There  was  in  the  presence  a  certain 
Messer  Tommaso,  of  Prato,  his  Holiness's  Datary ;' 
and  this  man,  being  a  friend  of  my  enemies,  put  in: 
"  Most  blessed  Father,  the  favours  you  are  shower- 
ing upon  this  young  man  ( and  he  by  nature  so  ex- 
tremely overbold )  are  enough  to  make  him  promise 
you  a  new  world.  You  have  already  given  him  one 
great  task,  and  now,  by  adding  a  greater,  you  are 
like  to  make  them  clash  together/'  The  Pope,  in  a 
rage,  turned  round  on  him,  and  told  him  to  mind 
his  own  business.  Then  he  commanded  me  to  make 
the  model  for  a  broad  doubloon  of  gold,  upon  which 
he  wanted  a  naked  Christ  with  his  hands  tied,  and 
the  inscription  Ecce  Homo;  the  reverse  was  to  have 
a  Pope  and  Emperor  in  the  act  together  of  propping 
up  a  cross  which  seemed  to  fall,  and  this  legend: 
Unus  spiritus  et  una  fides  erat  in  eis. 
After  the  Pope  had  ordered  this  handsome  coin, 

1  His  full  name  was  Tommaso  Cortese.  The  Papal  Datario  was  the  chief  secretary 
of  the  office  for  requests,  petitions,  and  patents.  His  title  'was  derived  from  its  being 
his  duty  to  affix  the  Datum  Rom<e  to  documents.  The  fees  of  this  office,  nuhich  was 
also  called  Datario,  brought  in  a  large  revenue  to  the  Papacy. 

C   2°3   H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Bandinello  the  sculptor  came  up;  he  had  not  yet 
been  made  a  knight;  and,  with  his  wonted  presump- 
tion muffled  up  in  ignorance,  said :  "  For  these  gold- 
smiths one  must  make  drawings  for  such  fine  things 
as  that."  I  turned  round  upon  him  in  a  moment,  and 
cried  out  that  I  did  not  want  his  drawings  for  my 
art,  but  that  I  hoped  before  very  long  to  give  his  art 
some  trouble  by  my  drawings.  The  Pope  expressed 
high  satisfaction  at  these  words,  and  turning  to  me 
said :  "Go  then,  my  Benvenuto,  and  devote  yourself 
with  spirit  to  my  service,  and  do  not  lend  an  ear  to 
the  chattering  of  these  silly  fellows." 

So  I  went  off,  and  very  quickly  made  two  dies  of 
steel;  then  I  stamped  a  coin  in  gold,  and  one  Sun- 
day after  dinner  took  the  coin  and  the  dies  to  the 
Pope,  who,  when  he  saw  the  piece,  was  astonished 
and  greatly  gratified,  not  only  because  my  work 
pleased  him  excessively,  but  also  because  of  the  ra- 
pidity with  which  I  had  performed  it.  For  the  fur- 
ther satisfaction  and  amazement  of  his  Holiness,  I 
had  brought  with  me  all  the  old  coins  which  in  for- 
mer times  had  been  made  by  those  able  men  who 
served  Popes  Giulio  and  Leo;  and  when  I  noticed 
that  mine  pleased  him  far  better,  I  drew  forth  from 
my  bosom  a  patent,1  in  which  I  prayed  for  the  post 
of  stamp-master  *  in  the  Mint.  This  place  was  worth 
six  golden  crowns  a  month,  in  addition  to  the  dies, 
which  were  paid  at  the  rate  of  a  ducat  for  three  by 
the  Master  of  the  Mint.  The  Pope  took  my  patent 

1  Motopropio.  Cellini  confuses  his  petition  'with  the  instrument,  which  he  had  prob- 
ably drawn  up  ready  for  signature. 
*  Maestro  delle  stampe  della  zecca,  i.  e.,  the  artist  'who  made  the  dies. 

204 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

and  handed  it  to  the  Datary,  telling  him  to  lose  no 
time  in  dispatching  the  business.  The  Datary  began 
to  put  it  in  his  pocket,  saying: "  Most  blessed  Father, 
your  Holiness  ought  not  to  go  so  fast ;  these  are  mat- 
ters which  deserve  some  reflection /'To  this  the  Pope 
replied:  "I  have  heard  what  you  have  got  to  say; 
give  me  here  that  patent/'  He  took  it,  and  signed 
it  at  once  with  his  own  hand;  then,  giving  it  back, 
added:  "Now,  you  have  no  answer  left;  see  that 
you  dispatch  it  at  once,  for  this  is  my  pleasure ;  and 
Benvenuto's  shoes  are  worth  more  than  the  eyes  of 
all  those  other  blockheads/'  So,  having  thanked  his 
Holiness,  I  went  back,  rejoicing  above  measure,  to 
my  work. 

XLVI 

I  was  still  working  in  the  shop  of  Raffaello  del 
Moro.  This  worthy  man  had  a  very  beautiful  young 
daughter,  with  regard  to  whom  he  had  designs  on 
me;  and  I,  becoming  partly  aware  of  his  intentions, 
was  very  willing ;  but,  while  indulging  such  desires, 
I  made  no  show  of  them:  on  the  contrary,!  was  so 
discreet  in  my  behaviour  that  I  made  him  wonder. 
It  so  happened  that  the  poor  girl  was  attacked  by  a 
disorder  in  her  right  hand,  which  ate  into  the  two 
bones  belonging  to  the  little  finger  and  the  next/ 
Owing  to  her  father's  carelessness,  she  had  been 
treated  by  an  ignorant  quack-do<5lor,  who  predicted 
that  the  poor  child  would  be  crippled  in  the  whole 
of  her  right  arm,  if  even  nothing  worse  should  hap- 
pen. When  I  noticed  the  dismay  of  her  father,  I 

1  Ossicina  che  seguitano  il  dito,  &c.  Probably  metacarpal  bones. 

L 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

begged  him  not  to  believe  all  that  this  ignorant 
do6lor  had  said.  He  replied  that  he  had  no  acquaint- 
ance with  physicians  or  with  surgeons,  and  entreated 
me,  if  I  knew  of  one,  to  bring  him  to  the  house.1  I 
sent  at  once  for  a  certain  Maestro  Giacomo  of  Peru- 
gia, a  man  of  great  skill  in  surgery,  who  examined 
the  poor  girl.2  She  was  dreadfully  frightened,  through 
having  gained  some  inkling  of  the  quack's  predic- 
tions; whereas,  my  intelligent  do6lor  declared  that 
she  would  suffer  nothing  of  consequence,  and  would 
be  very  well  able  to  use  her  right  hand ;  also  that 
though  the  two  last  fingers  must  remain  somewhat 
weaker  than  the  others,  this  would  be  of  no  incon- 
venience at  all  to  her.  So  he  began  his  treatment; 
and  after  a  few  days,  when  he  was  going  to  extract 
a  portion  of  the  diseased  bones,  her  father  called  for 
me,  and  begged  me  to  be  present  at  the  operation. 
Maestro  Giacomo  was  using  some  coarse  steel  in- 
struments; and  when  I  observed  that  he  was  mak- 
ing little  way  and  at  the  same  time  was  inflicting 
severe  pain  on  the  patient,  I  begged  him  to  stop  and 
wait  half  a  quarter  of  an  hour  for  me.  I  ran  into  the 
shop,  and  made  a  little  scalping-iron  of  steel,  ex- 
tremely thin  and  curved ;  it  cut  like  a  razor.  On  my 
return,  the  surgeon  used  it,  and  began  to  work  with 
so  gentle  a  hand  that  she  felt  no  pain,  and  in  a  short 
while  the  operation  was  over.  In  consequence  of  this 
service,  and  for  other  reasons,  the  worthy  man  con- 
ceived for  me  as  much  love,  or  more,  as  he  had  for 

1  Che  gnene  awiasse, 

3  Giacomo  Rastelli  'was  a  native  of  Rimini,  but  was  popularly  known  as  of  Perugia, 
since  he  had  resided  long  in  that  city.  He  was  a  famous  surgeon  under  several  Popes 
until  the  year  1566,  when  he  died  at  Rome,  aged  seventy-five. 

[    206    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

two  male  children;  and  in  the  meanwhile  he  at- 
tended to  the  cure  of  his  beautiful  young  daughter. 

I  was  on  terms  of  the  closest  intimacy  with  one 
Messer  Giovanni  Gaddi,  who  was  a  clerk  of  the  Ca- 
mera, and  a  great  connoisseur  of  the  arts,  although 
he  had  no  practical  acquaintance  with  any.1  In  his 
household  were  a  certain  Messer  Giovanni,  a  Greek 
of  eminent  learning,  Messer  Lodovico  of  Fano,  no 
less  distinguished  as  a  man  of  letters,  Messer  Antonio 
Allegretti,  and  Messer  Annibale  Caro,2  at  that  time 
in  his  early  manhood.  Messer  Bastiano  of  Venice,  a 
most  excellent  painter,  and  I  were  admitted  to  their 
society ;  and  almost  every  day  we  met  together  in 
Messer  Giovanni's  company.3 

Being  aware  of  this  intimacy,  the  worthy  gold- 
smith Raflfaello  said  to  Messer  Giovanni :  "  Good  sir, 
you  know  me;  now  I  want  to  marry  my  daughter 
to  Benvenuto,  and  can  think  of  no  better  interme- 
diary than  your  worship.  So  I  am  come  to  crave  your 
assistance,  and  to  beg  you  to  name  for  her  such 
dowry  from  my  estate  as  you  may  think  suitable/' 
The  light-headed  man  hardly  let  my  good  friend 
finish  what  he  had  to  say,  before  he  put  in  quite  at 

1  Giovanni  Gaddi  of  the  Florentine  family  'was  passionately  attached  to  men  of  art 
and  letters.  Yet  he  seems  to  have  been  somewhat  disagreeable  in  personal  inter- 
course 5  for  even  Annibale  Caro,  who  owed  much  to  his  patronage,  and  lived  for 
many  years  in  his  house,  never  became  attached  to  him.  We  shall  see  how  he  treated 
Cellini  during  a  fever. 

3  Some  poems  of  Allegretti" s  survive.  He  was  a  man  of  mark  in  the  literary  society 
of  the  age.  Giovanni  Greco  may  have  been  a  Giovanni  Fergezio,  who  presented 
Duke  Cosimo  with  some  Greek  characters  of  exquisite  finish.  Lodovico  da  Fano  is 
mentioned  as  an  excellent  Latin  scholar.  Annibale  Caro  was  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished writers  of  Italian  prose  and  verse  in  the  later  Renaissance.  He  spent  the 
latter  portion  of  his  life  in  the  service  of  the  Fame  si. 

3  Messer  Bastiano  is  the  celebrated  painter  Sebastian  del  Piombo,  born  1485,  died 
IS47- 

C  207 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

random:  "Talk  no  more  about  it,  Raflfaello;  you  are 
farther  from  your  objecl  than  January  from  mulber- 
ries/' The  poor  man,  utterly  discouraged,  looked 
about  at  once  for  another  husband  for  his  girl ;  while 
she  and  the  mother  and  all  the  family  lived  on  in  a 
bad  humour  with  me.  Since  I  did  not  know  the  real 
cause  of  this — I  imagined  they  were  paying  me  with 
bastard  coin  for  the  many  kindnesses  I  had  shown 
them — I  conceived  the  thought  of  opening  a  work- 
shop of  my  own  in  their  neighbourhood.  Messer 
Giovanni  told  me  nothing  till  the  girl  was  married, 
which  happened  in  a  few  months. 

Meanwhile,  I  laboured  assiduously  at  the  work  I 
was  doing  for  the  Pope,  and  also  in  the  service  of 
the  Mint;  for  his  Holiness  had  ordered  another  coin, 
of  the  value  of  two  carlins,  on  which  his  own  por- 
trait was  stamped,  while  the  reverse  bore  a  figure 
of  Christ  upon  the  waters,  holding  out  his  hand  to 
S.  Peter,  with  this  inscription,  Quare  dubitasti?  My 
design  won  such  applause  that  a  certain  secretary 
of  the  Pope,  a  man  of  the  greatest  talent,  called  II 
Sanga,1  was  moved  to  this  remark:  "  Your  Holiness 
can  boast  of  having  a  currency  superior  to  any  of 
the  ancients  in  all  their  glory."  The  Pope  replied: 
"Benvenuto,  for  his  part,  can  boast  of  serving  an 
emperor  like  me,  who  is  able  to  discern  his  merit/' 
I  went  on  at  my  great  piece  in  gold,  showing  it  fre- 
quently to  the  Pope,  who  was  very  eager  to  see  it, 
and  each  time  expressed  greater  admiration. 

1  Battista  Sanga,  a  Roman,  secretary  to  Gianmatteo  Giberti,  the  good  Archbishop 
of  Verona,  and  afterwards  to  Clement  VII.  He  nvas  a  great  Latinist,  and  one  of 
those  ecclesiastics  'who  earnestly  desired  a  reform  of  the  Church.  He  died,  poisoned, 
at  an  early  age. 

208 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

XL  VI I 

My  brother,  at  this  period,  was  also  in  Rome,  serv- 
ing Duke  Alessandro,  on  whom  the  Pope  had  re- 
cently conferred  the  Duchy  of  Penna.  This  prince 
kept  in  his  service  a  multitude  of  soldiers,  worthy 
fellows,  brought  up  to  valour  in  the  school  of  that 
famous  general  Giovanni  de*  Medici;  and  among 
these  was  my  brother,  whom  the  Duke  esteemed  as 
highly  as  the  bravest  of  them.  One  day  my  brother 
went  after  dinner  to  the  shop  of  a  man  called  Bac- 
cino  della  Croce  in  the  Banchi>  which  all  those  men- 
at-arms  frequented.  He  had  flung  himself  upon  a 
settee,  and  was  sleeping.  Just  then  the  guard  of  the 
Bargello  passed  by;1  they  were  taking  to  prison  a 
certain  Captain  Cisti,a  Lombard,  who  had  also  been 
a  member  of  Giovanni's  troop,  but  was  not  in  the 
service  of  the  Duke.  The  captain,  Cattivanza  degli 
Strozzi,  chanced  to  be  in  the  same  shop;2  and  when 
Cisti  caught  sight  of  him,  he  whispered:  "I  was 
bringing  you  those  crowns  I  owed ;  if  you  want  them, 
come  for  them  before  they  go  with  me  to  prison." 
Now  Cattivanza  had  a  way  of  putting  his  neigh- 
bours to  the  push,  not  caring  to  hazard  his  own  per- 

1  The  Bargello  was  the  chief  constable  or  sheriff  in  Italian  towns.  I  shall  call  him 
Bargello  always  in  my  translation,  since  any  English  equivalent  would  be  mislead- 
ing. He  did  the  rough  work  of  policing  the  city,  and  was  consequently  a  mark  for 
all  the  men  of  spirit  who  disliked  being  kept  in  order.  Gio<vio,  in  his  Life  of  Cardinal 
Pompeo  Colonna,  quite  gravely  relates  how  it  'was  the  highest  ambition  of  young 
Romans  of  spirit  to  murder  the  Bargello.  He  mentions,  in  particular,  a  certain  Pietro 
Margano,  who  had  acquired  great  fame  and  popularity  by  killing  the  Bargello  of  his 
day,  one  Cencio,  in  the  Campo  di  Fiore.  This  man  became  an  outlaw,  and  was  favour- 
ably received  by  Cardinal  Colonna,  then  at  war  with  Clement  711. 
a  Hi:  baptismal  name  was  Bernardo.  Cattivanza  was  a  nickname.  He  fought 
bravely  for  Florence  in  the  siege. 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

son.  So,  finding  there  around  him  several  young 
fellows  of  the  highest  daring,  more  eager  than  apt 
for  so  serious  an  enterprise,  he  bade  them  catch  up 
Captain  Cisti  and  get  the  money  from  him,  and  if 
the  guard  resisted,  overpower  the  men,  provided 
they  had  pluck  enough  to  do  so. 

The  young  men  were  but  four,  and  all  four  of 
them  without  a  beard.  The  first  was  called  Bertino 
Aldobrandi,  another  Anguillotto  of  Lucca;  I  cannot 
recall  the  names  of  the  rest.  Bertino  had  been  trained 
like  a  pupil  by  my  brother;  and  my  brother  felt  the 
most  unbounded  love  for  him.  So  then,  off  dashed 
the  four  brave  lads,  and  came  up  with  the  guard  of 
the  Bargello — upwards  of  fifty  constables,  counting 
pikes,  arquebuses,  and  two-handed  swords.  After  a 
few  words  they  drew  their  weapons,  and  the  four 
boys  so  harried  the  guard,  that  if  Captain  Cattivanza 
had  but  shown  his  face,  without  so  much  as  draw- 
ing, they  would  certainly  have  put  the  whole  pack 
to  flight.  But  delay  spoiled  all ;  for  Bertino  received 
some  ugly  wounds  and  fell;  at  the  same  time,  An- 
guillotto was  also  hit  in  the  right  arm,  and  being 
unable  to  use  his  sword,  got  out  of  the  fray  as  well 
as  he  was  able.  The  others  did  the  same.  Bertino 
Aldobrandi  was  lifted  from  the  ground  seriously 
injured. 

XLVIII 

While  these  things  were  happening,  we  were  all  at 
table;  for  that  morning  we 'had  dined  more  than  an 
hour  later  than  usual.  On  hearing  the  commotion, 
one  of  the  old  man's  sons,  the  elder,  rose  from  table 

C    210    3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

to  go  and  look  at  the  scuffle.  He  was  called  Gio- 
vanni; and  I  said  to  him:  "For  Heaven's  sake,  don't 
go!  In  such  matters  one  is  always  certain  to  lose, 
while  there  is  nothing  to  be  gained."  His  father 
spoke  to  like  purpose:  "Pray,  my  son,  don't  go!'" 
But  the  lad,  without  heeding  any  one,  ran  down  the 
stairs.  Reaching  the  Banchi,  where  the  great  scrim- 
mage was,  and  seeing  Bertino  lifted  from  the  ground, 
he  ran  towards  home,  and  met  my  brother  Cecchino 
on  the  way,  who  asked  what  was  the  matter.  Though 
some  of  the  bystanders  signed  to  Giovanni  not  to 
tell  Cecchino,  he  cried  out  like  a  madman  how  it 
was  that  Bertino  Aldobrandi  had  been  killed  by  the 
guard.  My  poor  brother  gave  vent  to  a  bellow  which 
might  have  been  heard  ten  miles  away.  Then  he 
turned  to  Giovanni:  "Ah  me!  but  could  you  tell  me 
which  of  those  men  killed  him  for  me?"1  Giovanni 
said,  yes,  that  it  was  a  man  who  had  a  big  two-handed 
sword,  with  a  blue  feather  in  his  bonnet.  My  poor 
brother  rushed  ahead,  and  having  recognised  the 
homicide  by  those  signs,  he  threw  himself  with  all 
his  dash  and  spirit  into  the  middle  of  the  band,  and 
before  his  man  could  turn  on  guard,  ran  him  right 
through  the  guts,  and  with  the  sword's  hilt  thrust 
him  to  the  ground.  Then  he  turned  upon  the  rest 
with  such  energy  and  daring,  that  his  one  arm  was 
on  the  point  of  putting  the  whole  band  to  flight,  had 
it  not  been  that,  while  wheeling  round  to  strike  an 
arquebusier,  this  man  fired  in  self-defence,  and  hit 
the  brave  unfortunate  young  fellow  above  the  knee 

1  Oime,  saprestimi  tu  dire  che  di  quelli  me  Vha  morto  ?  The  me  is  so  emphatic,  that, 
though  it  makes  poor  English,  I  ha've  preserved  it  in  my  version. 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

of  his  right  leg.  While  he  lay  stretched  upon  the 
ground,  the  constables  scrambled  off  in  disorder  as 
fast  as  they  were  able,  lest  a  pair  to  my  brother 
should  arrive  upon  the  scene. 

Noticing  that  the  tumult  was  not  subsiding,  I  too 
rose  from  table,  and  girding  on  my  sword — for 
everybody  wore  one  then — I  went  to  the  bridge  of 
Sant'  Agnolo,  where  I  saw  a  group  of  several  men 
assembled.  On  my  coming  up  and  being  recognised 
by  some  of  them,  they  gave  way  before  me,  and 
showed  me  what  I  least  of  all  things  wished  to  see, 
albeit  I  made  mighty  haste  to  view  the  sight.  On 
the  instant  I  did  not  know  Cecchino,  since  he  was 
wearing  a  different  suit  of  clothes  from  that  in  which 
I  had  lately  seen  him.  Accordingly,  he  recognised 
me  first,  and  said : "  Dearest  brother,  do  not  be  up- 
set by  my  grave  accident ;  it  is  only  what  might  be 
expected  in  my  profession:  get  me  removed  from 
here  at  once,  for  I  have  but  few  hours  to  live." 
They  had  acquainted  me  with  the  whole  event  while 
he  was  speaking,  in  brief  words  befitting  such  occa- 
sion. So  I  answered:  "Brother,  this  is  the  greatest 
sorrow  and  the  greatest  trial  that  could  happen  to 
me  in  the  whole  course  of  my  life.  But  be  of  good 
cheer ;  for  before  you  lose  sight  of  him  who  did  the 
mischief,  you  shall  see  yourself  revenged  by  my 
hand/'  Our  words  on  both  sides  were  to  the  purport, 
but  of  the  shortest. 

XLIX 

The  guard  was  now  about  fifty  paces  from  us;  for 
Maffio,  their  officer,  had  made  some  of  them  turn 

C  212  3 


ALESSANDRO    D  E    MEDICI 
(  VASARI  ) 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

back  to  take  up  the  corporal  my  brother  killed. 
Accordingly,  I  quickly  traversed  that  short  space, 
wrapped  in  my  cape,  which  I  had  tightened  round 
me,  and  came  up  with  Maffio,  whom  I  should  most 
certainly  have  murdered,  for  there  were  plenty  of 
people  round,  and  I  had  wound  my  way  among  them. 
With  the  rapidity  of  lightning,  I  had  half  drawn  my 
sword  from  the  sheath,  when  Berlinghier  Berlinghi- 
eri,  a  young  man  of  the  greatest  daring  and  my 
good  friend,  threw  himself  from  behind  upon  my 
arms ;  he  had  four  other  fellows  of  like  kidney  with 
him,  who  cried  out  to  Maffio:  "Away  with  you,  for 
this  man  here  alone  was  killing  you!"  He  asked: 
"Who  is  he?"  and  they  answered:  "Own  brother 
to  the  man  you  see  there."  Without  waiting  to  hear 
more,  he  made  haste  for  Torre  di  Nona;1  and  they 
said:  "Benvenuto,  we  prevented  you  against  your 
will,  but  did  it  for  your  good;  now  let  us  go  to  suc- 
cour him  who  must  die  shortly."  Accordingly,  we 
turned  and  went  back  to  my  brother,  whom  I  had 
at  once  conveyed  into  a  house.  The  do6lors  who 
were  called  in  consultation,  treated  him  with  medi- 
caments, but  could  not  decide  to  amputate  the  leg, 
which  might  perhaps  have  saved  him. 

As  soon  as  his  wound  had  been  dressed,  Duke 
Alessandro  appeared  and  most  affectionately  greeted 
him.  My  brother  had  not  as  yet  lost  consciousness; 
so  he  said  to  the  Duke:  "  My  lord,  this  only  grieves 
me,  that  your  Excellency  is  losing  a  servant  than 
whom  you  may  perchance  find  men  more  valiant  in 

1  The  Torre  di  Nona  'was  one  of  the  principal  prisons  in  Rome,  used  especially  for 
criminals  condemned  to  death. 

213 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

the  profession  of  arms,  but  none  more  lovingly  and 
loyally  devoted  to  your  service  than  I  have  been." 
The  Duke  bade  him  do  all  he  could  to  keep  alive; 
for  the  rest,  he  well  knew  him  to  be  a  man  of  worth 
and  courage.  He  then  turned  to  his  attendants, order- 
ing them  to  see  that  the  brave  young  fellow  wanted 
for  nothing. 

When  he  was  gone,  my  brother  lost  blood  so  copi- 
ously, for  nothing  could  be  done  to  stop  it,  that  he 
went  off  his  head,  and  kept  raving  all  the  following 
night,  with  the  exception  that  once,  when  they  wanted 
to  give  him  the  communion,  he  said:  "You  would 
have  done  well  to  confess  me  before ;  now  it  is  im- 
possible that  I  should  receive  the  divine  sacrament 
in  this  already  ruined  frame ;  it  will  be  enough  if  I 
partake  of  it  by  the  divine  virtue  of  the  eyesight, 
whereby  it  shall  be  transmitted  into  my  immortal 
soul,  which  only  prays  to  Him  for  mercy  and  for- 
giveness/' Having  spoken  thus,  the  host  was  ele- 
vated; but  he  straightway  relapsed  into  the  same 
delirious  ravings  as  before,  pouring  forth  a  torrent 
of  the  most  terrible  frenzies  and  horrible  impreca- 
tions that  the  mind  of  man  could  imagine ;  nor  did 
he  cease  once  all  that  night  until  the  day  broke. 

When  the  sun  appeared  above  our  horizon,  he 
turned  to  me  and  said:  "Brother,  I  do  not  wish  to 
stay  here  longer,  for  these  fellows  will  end  by  mak- 
ing me  do  something  tremendous,  which  may  cause 
them  to  repent  of  the  annoyance  they  have  given 
me."  Then  he  kicked  out  both  his  legs — the  injured 
limb  we  had  enclosed  in  a  very  heavy  box — and 
made  as  though  he  would  fling  it  across  a  horse's 

C  214  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

back.  Turning  his  face  round  to  me,  he  called  out 
thrice, "  Farewell,  farewell! "  and  with  the  last  word 
that  most  valiant  spirit  passed  away. 

At  the  proper  hour,  toward  nightfall,  I  had  him 
buried  with  due  ceremony  in  the  church  of  the  Floren- 
tines ;  and  afterwards  I  eredled  to  his  memory  a  very 
handsome  monument  of  marble,  upon  which  I  caused 
trophies  and  banners  to  be  carved.  I  must  not  omit 
to  mention  that  one  of  his  friends  had  asked  him  who 
the  man  was  that  had  killed  him,  and  if  he  could  re- 
cognise him;  to  which  he  answered  that  he  could, 
and  gave  his  description.  My  brother,  indeed,  at- 
tempted to  prevent  this  coming  to  my  ears;  but  I 
got  it  very  well  impressed  upon  my  mind,  as  will 
appear  in  the  -sequel.1 


Returning  to  the  monument,  I  should  relate  that  cer- 
tain famous  men  of  letters,  who  knew  my  brother, 
composed  for  me  an  epitaph,  telling  me  that  the  noble 
young  man  deserved  it.  The  inscription  ran  thus : 

"Francisco  Cellino  Florentine,  qui  quod  in  teneris  annis  ad 
loannem  Medicem  ducem  plures  viftorias  retulit  et  signifer 
fuity  facile  documentum  dedit  quanta  fortitudinis  et  consilii 
vir  futurus  eraty  ni  crudelis  fati  archibuso  transfossus,  quinto 
<etatis  lustro  jaceret,  Benvenutus  f rater  posuit.  Obiit  die  xxvn 
Matt  MD.  XXIX." 

He  was  twenty-five  years  of  age;  and  since  the 
soldiers  called  him  Cecchino  del  Piflfero,2  his  real 

1  V arc  hi,  in  his  Storia  Fiorentina,  lib.  xi.,  gives  a  short  account  of  Cecchino  Cel- 
lini's death  in  Rome,  mentioning  also  Bertino  Aldobrandi,  in  the  attempt  to  revenge 
'whom  he  lost  his  life. 

2  That  is,  Frank,  the  Fifer's  son. 

c  215  n 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

name  being  Giovanfrancesco  Cellini,  I  wanted  to 
engrave  the  former,  by  which  he  was  commonly 
known,  under  the  armorial  bearings  of  our  family. 
This  name  then  I  had  cut  in  fine  antique  characters, 
all  of  which  were  broken  save  the  first  and  last.  I 
was  asked  by  the  learned  men  who  had  composed 
that  beautiful  epitaph,  wherefore  I  used  these  broken 
letters ;  and  my  answer  was,  because  the  marvellous 
framework  of  his  body  was  spoiled  and  dead;  and 
the  reason  why  the  first  and  last  remained  entire 
was,  that  the  first  should  symbolise  the  great  gift 
God  had  given  him,  namely,  of  a  human  soul,  in- 
flamed with  his  divinity,  the  which  hath  never  broken, 
while  the  second  represented  the  glorious  renown 
of  his  brave  actions.  The  thought  gave  satisfaction, 
and  several  persons  have  since  availed  themselves  of 
my  device.  Close  to  the  name  I  had  the  coat  of  us  Cel- 
lini carved  upon  the  stone,  altering  it  in  some  par- 
ticulars. In  Ravenna,  which  is  a  most  ancient  city, 
there  exist  Cellini  of  our  name  in  the  quality  of  very 
honourable  gentry,  who  bear  a  lion  rampant  or  upon 
a  field  of  azure,  holding  a  lily  gules  in  his  dexter 
paw,  with  a  label  in  chief  and  three  little  lilies  or.1 
These  are  the  true  arms  of  the  Cellini.  My  father 
showed  me  a  shield  as  ours  which  had  the  paw  only, 
together  with  the  other  bearings ;  but  I  should  pre- 
fer to  follow  those  of  the  Cellini  of  Ravenna,  which 
I  have  described  above.  Now  to  return  to  what  I 
caused  to  be  engraved  upon  my  brother's  tomb :  it 

1  /  believe  Cellini  meant  here  to  write  "on  a  chief  argent  a  label  of  four  points ,  and 
three  lilies  gules."  He  has  tricked  the  arms  thus  in  a  MS.  of  the  Palatine  Library. 
See  Leclanchetp.  103,  see  also  Piatti,  'vol.  i.p.  233,  and  Plan, p.  ^. 

216 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

was  the  lion's  paw,  but  instead  of  a  lily,  I  made  the 
lion  hold  an  axe,  with  the  field  of  the  scutcheon  quar- 
tered ;  and  I  put  the  axe  in  solely  that  I  might  not 
be  unmindful  to  revenge  him. 

LI 

I  went  on  applying  myself  with  the  utmost  diligence 
upon  the  gold- work  for  Pope  Clement's  button.  He 
was  very  eager  to  have  it,  and  used  to  send  for  me 
two  or  three  times  a  week,  in  order  to  inspe6l  it; 
and  his  delight  in  the  work  always  increased.  Often 
would  he  rebuke  and  scold  me,  as  it  were,  for  the 
great  grief  in  which  my  brother's  loss  had  plunged 
me;  and  one  day,  observing  me  more  downcast  and 
out  of  trim  than  was  proper,  he  cried  aloud :  "  Ben- 
venuto,  oh!  I  did  not  know  that  you  were  mad. 
Have  you  only  just  learned  that  there  is  no  remedy 
against  death  ?  One  would  think  that  you  were  try- 
ing to  run  after  him."  When  I  left  the  presence,  I 
continued  working  at  the  jewel  and  the  dies1  for  the 
Mint;  but  I  also  took  to  watching  the  arquebusier 
who  shot  my  brother,  as  though  he  had  been  a  girl 
I  was  in  love  with.  The  man  had  formerly  been 
in  the  light  cavalry,  but  afterwards  had  joined  the 
arquebusiers  as  one  of  the  Bargello's  corporals ;  and 
what  increased  my  rage  was  that  he  had  used  these 
boastful  words:  "If  it  had  not  been  for  me,  who 
killed  that  brave  young  man,  the  least  trifle  of  delay 
would  have  resulted  in  his  putting  us  all  to  flight 
with  great  disaster."  When  I  saw  that  the  fever 

1  tern.  I  have  translated  this  'word  dies  $  but  it  seems  to  mean  all  the  coining  in- 
struments, stampe  or  conii  being  the  dies  proper. 

C  2'7  1 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

caused  by  always  seeing  him  about  was  depriving 
me  of  sleep  and  appetite,  and  was  bringing  me  by 
degrees  to  sorry  plight,  I  overcame  my  repugnance 
to  so  low  and  not  quite  praiseworthy  an  enterprise, 
and  made  my  mind  up  one  evening  to  rid  myself  of 
the  torment.  The  fellow  lived  in  a  house  near  a  place 
called  Torre  Sanguigua,  next  door  to  the  lodging 
of  one  of  the  most  fashionable  courtesans  in  Rome, 
named  Signora  Antea.  It  had  just  struck  twenty-four, 
and  he  was  standing  at  the  house-door,  with  his 
sword  in  hand,  having  risen  from  supper.  With  great 
address  I  stole  up  to  him,  holding  a  large  Pistojan 
dagger/  and  dealt  him  a  back-handed  stroke,  with 
which  I  meant  to  cut  his  head  clean  off';  but  as  he 
turned  round  very  suddenly,  the  blow  fell  upon  the 
point  of  his  left  shoulder  and  broke  the  bone.  He 
sprang  up,  dropped  his  sword,  half-stunned  with  the 
great  pain,  and  took  to  flight.  I  followed  after,  and 
in  four  steps  caught  him  up,  when  I  lifted  my  dag- 
ger above  his  head,  which  he  was  holding  very  low, 
and  hit  him  in  the  back  exactly  at  the  juncture  of  the 
nape-bone  and  the  neck.  The  poniard  entered  this 
point  so  deep  into  the  bone,  that,  though  I  used  all  my 
strength  to  pull  it  out,  I  was  not  able.  For  just  at  that 
moment  four  soldiers  with  drawn  swords  sprang  out 
from  Antea's  lodging,  and  obliged  me  to  set  hand  to 
my  own  sword  to  defend  my  life.  Leaving  the  pon- 
iard then,  I  made  off,  and  fearing  I  might  be  recog- 
nised, took  refuge  in  the  palace  of  Duke  Alessandro, 
which  was  between  Piazza  Navona  and  the  Rotunda.2 

1  Pugnal  pistolese :  it  came  in  time  to  mean  a  cutlass. 
•  That  is,  the  Pantheon. 

I    218    3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

On  my  arrival,  I  asked  to  see  the  Duke;  who  told 
me  that,  if  I  was  alone,  I  need  only  keep  quiet 
and  have  no  further  anxiety,  but  go  on  working  at 
the  jewel  which  the  Pope  had  set  his  heart  on,  and 
stay  eight  days  indoors.  He  gave  this  advice  the 
more  securely,  because  the  soldiers  had  now  arrived 
who  interrupted  the  completion  of  my  deed;  they 
held  the  dagger  in  their  hand,  and  were  relating  how 
the  matter  happened,  and  the  great  trouble  they  had 
to  pull  the  weapon  from  the  neck  and  head-bone  of 
the  man,  whose  name  they  did  not  know.  Just  then 
Giovan  Bandini  came  up,  and  said  to  them:1  "That 
poniard  is  mine,  and  I  lent  it  to  Benvenuto,  who 
was  bent  on  revenging  his  brother."  The  soldiers 
were  profuse  in  their  expressions  of  regret  at  having 
interrupted  me,  although  my  vengeance  had  been 
amply  satisfied. 

More  than  eight  days  elapsed,  and  the  Pope  did 
not  send  for  me  according  to  his  custom.  Afterwards 
he  summoned  me  through  his  chamberlain,  the  Bo- 
lognese  nobleman  I  have  already  mentioned,  who 
let  me,  in  his  own  modest  manner,  understand  that 
his  Holiness  knew  all,  but  was  very  well  inclined 
toward  me,  and  that  I  had  only  to  mind  my  work 
and  keep  quiet.  When  we  reached  the  presence,  the 
Pope  cast  so  menacing  a  glance  towards  me,  that 
the  mere  look  of  his  eyes  made  me  tremble.  After- 

1  Bandini  bears  a  distinguished  name  in  Florentine  annals.  He  served  Duke  Ales- 
sandro  in  affairs  of  much  importance  ,•  but  afterwards  he  betrayed  the  interests  of 
his  master ;  Duke  Cosimo,  in  an  embassy  to  Charles  7.  in  1 543.  //  seems  that  he  had 
then  been  playing  into  the  hands  of  Filippo  Strozzi,  for  'which  offence  he  passed  fif- 
teen years  in  a  dungeon.  See  Varchi  and  Segni ;  also  Mofitazio's  Prigionieri  del 
Mastio  di  folterra,  cap.  <tjii. 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

wards,  upon  examining  my  work,  his  countenance 
cleared,  and  he  began  to  praise  me  beyond  measure, 
saying  that  I  had  done  a  vast  amount  in  a  short 
time.  Then,  looking  me  straight  in  the  face,  he 
added:  "Now  that  you  are  cured,  Benvenuto,  take 
heed  how  you  live/'1  I,  who  understood  his  mean- 
ing, promised  that  I  would.  Immediately  upon  this, 
I  opened  a  very  fine  shop  in  the  Banchi,  opposite 
Raflfaello,  and  there  I  finished  the  jewel  after  the 
lapse  of  a  few  months. 

LII 

The  Pope  had  sent  me  all  those  precious  stones, 
except  the  diamond,  which  was  pawned  to  certain 
Genoese  bankers  for  some  pressing  need  he  had  of 
money.  The  rest  were  in  my  custody,  together  with 
a  model  of  the  diamond.  I  had  five  excellent  jour- 
neymen, and  in  addition  to  the  great  piece,  I  was 
engaged  on  several  jobs ;  so  that  my  shop  contained 
property  of  much  value  in  jewels,  gems,  and  gold 
and  silver.  I  kept  a  shaggy  dog,  very  big  and  hand- 
some, which  Duke  Alessandro  gave  me ;  the  beast 
was  capital  as  a  retriever,  since  he  brought  me  every 
sort  of  birds  and  game  I  shot,  but  he  also  served 
most  admirably  for  a  watchdog.  It  happened,  as  was 
natural  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  that  I  had  taken 
into  my  service  a  girl  of  great  beauty  and  grace, 
whom  I  used  as  a  model  in  my  art,  and  who  was 
also  complaisant  of  her  personal  favours  to  me.  Such 
being  the  case,  I  occupied  an  apartment  far  away 

1  This  'was  the  Pope's  hint  to  Cellini  that  he  'was  aware  of  the  murder  he  had  just 
committed. 

22° 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

from  my  workmen's  rooms,  as  well  as  from  the 
shop;  and  this  communicated  by  a  little  dark  passage 
with  the  maid's  bedroom.  I  used  frequently  to  pass 
the  night  with  her;  and  though  I  sleep  as  lightly  as 
ever  yet  did  man  upon  this  earth,  yet,  after  indul- 
gence in  sexual  pleasure,  my  slumber  is  sometimes 
very  deep  and  heavy. 

So  it  chanced  one  night:  for  I  must  say  that  a  thief, 
under  the  pretext  of  being  a  goldsmith,  had  spied 
on  me,  and  cast  his  eyes  upon  the  precious  stones, 
and  made  a  plan  to  steal  them.  Well,  then,  this  fel- 
low broke  into  the  shop,  where  he  found  a  quantity 
of  little  things  in  gold  and  silver.  He  was  engaged 
in  bursting  open  certain  boxes  to  get  at  the  jewels 
he  had  noticed,  when  my  dog  jumped  upon  him,  and 
put  him  to  much  trouble  to  defend  himself  with  his 
sword.  The  dog,  unable  to  grapple  with  an  armed 
man, ran  several  times  through  the  house, and  rushed 
into  the  rooms  of  the  journeymen,  which  had  been 
left  open  because  of  the  great  heat.  When  he  found 
they  paid  no  heed  to  his  loud  barking,  he  dragged 
their  bed-clothes  off;  and  when  they  still  heard  no- 
thing, he  pulled  first  one  and  then  another  by  the 
arm  till  he  roused  them,  and,  barking  furiously,  ran 
before  to  show  them  where  he  wanted  them  to  go. 
At  last  it  became  clear  that  they  refused  to  follow ; 
for  the  traitors, cross  at  being  disturbed,  threw  stones 
and  sticks  at  him;  and  this  they  could  well  do,  for 
I  had  ordered  them  to  keep  all  night  a  lamp  alight 
there;  and  in  the  end  they  shut  their  rooms  tight; 
so  the  dog,  abandoning  all  hope  of  aid  from  such 
rascals,  set  out  alone  again  on  his  adventure.  He 

C  221  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ran  down,  and  not  finding  the  thief  in  the  shop,  flew 
after  him.  When  he  got  at  him,  he  tore  the  cape  off 
his  back.  It  would  have  gone  hard  with  the  fellow 
had  he  not  called  for  help  to  certain  tailors,  praying 
them  for  God's  sake  to  save  him  from  a  mad  dog; 
and  they,  believing  what  he  said,  jumped  out  and 
drove  the  dog  off  with  much  trouble. 

After  sunrise  my  workmen  went  into  the  shop, 
and  saw  that  it  had  been  broken  open  and  all  the 
boxes  smashed.  They  began  to  scream  at  the  top  of 
their  voices:  "  Ah,  woe  is  me !  Ah,  woe  is  me ! "  The 
clamour  woke  me,  and  I  rushed  out  in  a  panic.  Ap- 
pearing thus  before  them,  they  cried  out:  "Alas  to 
us !  for  we  have  been  robbed  by  some  one,  who  has 
broken  and  borne  everything  away ! "  These  words 
wrought  so  forcibly  upon  my  mind  that  I  dared  not 
go  to  my  big  chest  and  look  if  it  still  held  the  jewels 
of  the  Pope.  So  intense  was  the  anxiety,  that  I  seemed 
to  lose  my  eyesight,  and  told  them  they  themselves 
must  unlock  the  chest,  and  see  how  many  of  the 
Pope's  gems  were  missing.  The  fellows  were  all  of 
them  in  their  shirts ;  and  when,  on  opening  the  chest, 
they  saw  the  precious  stones  and  my  work  with  them, 
they  took  heart  of  joy  and  shouted :  "  There  is  no 
harm  done;  your  piece  and  all  the  stones  are  here; 
but  the  thief  has  left  us  naked  to  the  shirt,  because 
last  night,  by  reason  of  the  burning  heat,  we  took 
our  clothes  off  in  the  shop  and  left  them  here."  Re- 
covering my  senses,  I  thanked  God,  and  said:  "Go 
and  get  yourselves  new  suits  of  clothes ;  I  will  pay 
when  I  hear  at  leisure  how  the  whole  thing  hap- 
pened." What  caused  me  the  most  pain,  and  made 

222 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

me  lose  my  senses,  and  take  fright — so  contrary  to 
my  real  nature — was  the  dread  lest  perad venture 
folk  should  fancy  I  had  trumped  a  story  of  the  rob- 
ber up  to  steal  the  jewels.  It  had  already  been  said 
to  Pope  Clement  by  one  of  his  most  trusted  servants, 
and  by  others,  that  is,  by  Francesco  del  Nero,  Zana 
de'  Biliotti  his  accountant,  the  Bishop  of  Vasona,  and 
several  such  men:1  "Why,  most  blessed  Father,  do 
you  confide  gems  of  that  vast  value  to  a  young  fel- 
low, who  is  all  fire,  more  passionate  for  arms  than 
for  his  art,  and  not  yet  thirty  years  of  age?"  The 
Pope  asked  in  answer  if  any  one  of  them  knew  that 
I  had  done  aught  to  justify  such  suspicions.  Whereto 
Francesco  del  Nero,  his  treasurer,  replied:3  "No, 
most  blessed  Father,  because  he  has  not  as  yet  had 
an  opportunity/'  Whereto  the  Pope  rejoined:  "I 
regard  him  as  a  thoroughly  honest  man;  and  if  I 
saw  with  my  own  eyes  some  crime  he  had  com- 
mitted, I  should  not  believe  it."  This  was  the  man 
who3  caused  me  the  greatest  torment,  and  who  sud- 
denly came  up  before  my  mind. 

After  telling  the  young  men  to  provide  themselves 
with  fresh  clothes,  I  took  my  piece,  together  with 
the  gems,  setting  them  as  well  as  I  could  in  their 
proper  places,  and  went  off  at  once  with  them  to  the 

1  Of  these  people,  vue  can  trace  the  Bishop  of  Vasona.  He  'was  Girolamo  Schio  or 
Schedo,  a  native  of  Vicenxa,  the  confidential  agent  and  confessor  of  Clement  VII., 
who  obtained  the  See  of  Vaison  in  the  county  of  Avignon  in  1523,  and  died  at 
Rome  in  1533.  His  successor  in  the  bishopric  'was  Tommaso  Cortesi,  the  Datary, 
mentioned  above. 

8  Varc hi  give s  a  very  ugly  account  of  this  man,  Francesco  del  Nero,fwho'was  nick- 
named the  Cra  del  Piccadiglio,  in  his  History  of  Florence,  book  Hi.  "  In  the  whole 
city  of  Florence  there  never  'was  born,  in  my  belief,  a  man  of  such  irreligion  or  of  such 
sordid  avarice"  Giovio  confirms  the  statement. 

3  Questofu  quello  che.  This  may  be  neuter:  This  'was  the  circumstance  which. 

223 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Pope.  Francesco  del  Nero  had  already  told  him 
something  of  the  trouble  in  my  shop,  and  had  put 
suspicions  in  his  head.  So  then,  taking  the  thing 
rather  ill  than  otherwise,  he  shot  a  furious  glance 
upon  me,  and  cried  haughtily:  "What  have  you 
come  to  do  here?  What  is  up?"  "Here  are  all  your 
precious  stones,  and  not  one  of  them  is  missing/' 
At  this  the  Pope's  face  cleared,  and  he  said:  "So 
then,  you're  welcome."  I  showed  him  the  piece,  and 
while  he  was  inspecting  it,  I  related  to  him  the  whole 
story  of  the  thief  and  of  my  agony,  and  what  had 
been  my  greatest  trouble  in  the  matter.  During  this 
speech,  he  oftentimes  turned  round  to  look  me  sharply 
in  the  eyes ;  and  Francesco  del  Nero  being  also  in  the 
presence,  this  seemed  to  make  him  half  sorry  that 
he  had  not  guessed  the  truth.  At  last,  breaking  into 
laughter  at  the  long  tale  I  was  telling,  he  sent  me 
off  with  these  words:  "Go,  and  take  heed  to  be  an 
honest  man,  as  indeed  I  know  that  you  are." 

LIII 

I  went  on  working  assiduously  at  the  button,  and  at 
the  same  time  laboured  for  the  Mint,  when  certain 
pieces  of  false  money  got  abroad  in  Rome,  stamped 
with  my  own  dies.  They  were  brought  at  once  to 
the  Pope,  who,  hearing  things  against  me,  said  to 
Giacopo  Balducci,  the  Master  of  the  Mint,  "Take 
every  means  in  your  power  to  find  the  criminal ;  for 
we  are  sure  that  Benvenuto  is  an  honest  fellow." 
That  traitor  of  a  master,  being  in  fa6l  my  enemy,  re- 
plied : "  Would  God,  most  blessed  Father,  that  it  may 
turn  out  as  you  say;  for  we  have  some  proofs  against 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

him."  Upon  this  the  Pope  turned  to  the  Governor 
of  Rome,  and  bade  him  see  he  found  the  malefactor. 
During  those  days  the  Pope  sent  for  me,  and  leading 
cautiously  hi  conversation  to  the  topic  of  the  coins, 
asked  me  at  the  fitting  moment:  "Benvenuto, 
should  you  have  the  heart  to  coin  false  money?" 
To  this  I  replied  that  I  thought  I  could  do  so  better 
than  all  the  rascals  who  gave  their  minds  to  such 
vile  work ;  for  fellows  who  practise  lewd  trades  of 
that  sort  are  not  capable  of  earning  money,  nor  are 
they  men  of  much  ability.  I,  on  the  contrary,  with 
my  poor  wits  could  gain  enough  to  keep  me  com- 
fortably; for  when  I  set  dies  for  the  Mint,  each  morn- 
ing before  dinner  I  put  at  least  three  crowns  into 
my  pocket ;  this  was  the  customary  payment  for  the 
dies,  and  the  Master  of  the  Mint  bore  me  a  grudge, 
because  he  would  have  liked  to  have  them  cheaper; 
so  then,  what  I  earned  with  God's  grace  and  the 
world's,  sufficed  me,  and  by  coining  false  money  I 
should  not  have  made  so  much.  The  Pope  very  well 
perceived  my  drift;  and  whereas  he  had  formerly 
given  orders  that  they  should  see  I  did  not  fly  from 
Rome,  he  now  told  them  to  look  well  about  and 
have  no  heed  of  me,  seeing  he  was  ill-disposed  to 
anger  me,  and  in  this  way  run  the  risk  of  losing  me. 
The  officials  who  received  these  orders  were  certain 
clerks  of  the  Camera,  who  made  the  proper  search, 
as  was  their  duty,  and  soon  found  the  rogue.  He  was 
a  stamper  in  the  service  of  the  Mint,  named  Cesare 
Macherone,  and  a  Roman  citizen.  Together  with  this 
man  they  detecled  a  metal-founder  of  the  Mint.1 

1  The  word  in  Cellini  is  ovolatore  di  zecca. 

225 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

LIV 

On  that  very  day,  as  I  was  passing  through  the 
Piazza.  Navona,  and  had  my  fine  retriever  with  me, 
just  when  we  came  opposite  the  gate  of  the  Bargello, 
my  dog  flew  barking  loudly  inside  the  door  upon  a 
youth,  who  had  been  arrested  at  the  suit  of  a  man 
called  Donnino  (a  goldsmith  from  Parma,  and  a 
former  pupil  of  Caradosso ) ,  on  the  charge  of  hav- 
ing robbed  him.  The  dog  strove  so  violently  to  tear 
the  fellow  to  pieces,  that  the  constables  were  moved 
to  pity.  It  so  happened  that  he  was  pleading  his  own 
cause  with  boldness,  and  Donnino  had  not  evidence 
enough  to  support  the  accusation;  and  what  was 
more,  one  of  the  corporals  of  the  guard,  a  Genoese, 
was  a  friend  of  the  young  man's  father.  The  upshot 
was  that,  what  with  the  dog  and  with  those  other 
circumstances,  they  were  on  the  point  of  releasing 
their  prisoner.  When  I  came  up,  the  dog  had  lost  all 
fear  of  sword  or  staves,  and  was  flying  once  more 
at  the  young  man ;  so  they  told  me  if  I  did  not  call 
the  brute  off  they  would  kill  him.  I  held  him  back 
as  well  as  I  was  able;  but  just  then  the  fellow,  in 
the  a6l  of  readjusting  his  cape,  let  fall  some  paper 
packets  from  the  hood,  which  Donnino  recognised 
as  his  property.  I  too  recognised  a  little  ring;  where- 
upon I  called  out:  "This  is  the  thief  who  broke  into 
my  shop  and  robbed  it;  and  therefore  my  dog  knows 
him;"  then  I  loosed  the  dog,  who  flew  again  upon 
the  robber.  On  this  the  fellow  craved  for  mercy, 
promising  to  give  back  whatever  he  possessed  of 
mine.  When  I  had  secured  the  dog,  he  proceeded 

226 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

to  restore  the  gold  and  silver  and  the  rings  which 
he  had  stolen  from  me,  and  twenty-five  crowns  in 
addition.  Then  he  cried  once  more  to  me  for  pity.  I 
told  him  to  make  his  peace  with  God,  for  I  should 
do  him  neither  good  nor  evil.  So  I  returned  to  my 
business ;  and  a  few  days  afterwards,  Cesare  Mache- 
rone,  the  false  coiner,  was  hanged  in  the  Banchi  op- 
posite the  Mint;  his  accomplice  was  sent  to  the  gal- 
leys ;  the  Genoese  thief  was  hanged  in  the  Campo 
di  Fiore,  while  I  remained  in  better  repute  as  an 
honest  man  than  I  had  enjoyed  before. 

LV 

When  I  had  nearly  finished  my  piece,  there  hap- 
pened that  terrible  inundation  which  flooded  the 
whole  of  Rome.1  I  waited  to  see  what  would  hap- 
pen; the  day  was  well-nigh  spent,  for  the  clocks 
struck  twenty-two,  and  the  water  went  on  rising 
formidably.  Now  the  front  of  my  house  and  shop 
faced  the  Banchi,  but  the  back  was  several  yards 
higher,  because  it  turned  toward  Monte  Giordano; 
accordingly,  bethinking  me  first  of  my  own  safety 
and  in  the  next  place  of  my  honour,  I  filled  my 
pockets  with  the  jewels,  and  gave  the  gold-piece 
into  the  custody  of  my  workmen,  and  then  descended 
barefoot  from  the  back- windows,  and  waded  as  well 
as  I  could  until  I  reached  Monte  Cavallo.  There 
I  sought  out  Messer  Giovanni  Gaddi,  clerk  of  the 
Camera,  and  Bastiano  Veneziano,  the  painter.  To  the 
former  I  confided  the  precious  stones,  to  keep  in 
safety :  he  had  the  same  regard  for  me  as  though  I 

1  This  took  place  on  the  1th  and  <)th  Odober  1530. 

C    227    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

had  been  his  brother.  A  few  days  later,  when  the 
rage  of  the  river  was  spent,  I  returned  to  my  work- 
shop, and  finished  the  piece  with  such  good  fortune, 
through  God's  grace  and  my  own  great  industry, 
that  it  was  held  to  be  the  finest  masterpiece  which 
had  been  ever  seen  in  Rome.1 

When  then  I  took  it  to  the  Pope,  he  was  insatia- 
ble in  praising  me,  and  said:  "  Were  I  but  a  wealthy 
emperor,  I  would  give  my  Benvenuto  as  much  land 
as  his  eyes  could  survey ;  yet  being  nowadays  but 
needy  bankrupt  potentates,  we  will  at  any  rate  give 
him  bread  enough  to  satisfy  his  modest  wishes."  I 
let  the  Pope  run  on  to  the  end  of  his  rhodomontade/ 
and  then  asked  him  for  a  mace-bearer's  place  which 
happened  to  be  vacant.  He  replied  that  he  would 
grant  me  something  of  far  greater  consequence.  I 
begged  his  Holiness  to  bestow  this  little  thing  on  me 
meanwhile  by  way  of  earnest.  He  began  to  laugh, 
and  said  he  was  willing,  but  that  he  did  not  wish  me 
to  serve,  and  that  I  must  make  some  arrangement 
with  the  other  mace-bearers  to' be  exempted.  He 
would  allow  them  through  me  a  certain  favour,  for 
which  they  had  already  petitioned,  namely,  the  right 
of  recovering  their  fees  at  law.  This  was  accordingly 
done;  and  that  mace-bearer's  office  brought  me  in 
little  less  than  200  crowns  a  year.3 


1  This  famous  masterpiece  'was  preserved  in  the  Castle  ofS.  Angela  during  the  Papal 
Government  of  Rome.  It  <vjas  brought  out  on  Christmas,  Easter,  and  S,  Peter  s  days. 

2  Quella  sua  smania  di  parole. 

3  Cellini  received  this  post  among  the  Mazzieri  ('who  walked  like  beadles  before 
the  Pope)  on  April  14,  1531.  He  resigned  it  in  favour  of  Pictro  Cornaro  of  Venice 
in  1535. 

228 


BACCIO      BANDINELLO 
(  BY    H  I  MSELF) 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

LVI 

I  continued  to  work  for  the  Pope,  executing  now  one 
trifle  and  now  another,  when  he  commissioned  me 
to  design  a  chalice  of  exceeding  richness.  So  I  made 
both  drawing  and  model  for  the  piece.  The  latter 
was  constructed  of  wood  and  wax.  Instead  of  the 
usual  top,  I  fashioned  three  figures  of  a  fair  size  in 
the  round ;  they  represented  Faith,  Hope,  and  Char- 
ity. Corresponding  to  these,  at  the  base  of  the  cup, 
were  three  circular  histories  in  bas-relief.  One  was 
the  Nativity  of  Christ,  the  second  the  Resurrection, 
and  the  third  S.  Peter  crucified  head  downwards; 
for  thus  I  had  received  commission.  While  I  had  this 
work  in  hand,  the  Pope  was  often  pleased  to  look  at 
it;  wherefore,  observing  that  his  Holiness  had  never 
thought  again  of  giving  me  anything,  and  knowing 
that  a  post  in  the  Piombo  was  vacant,  I  asked  for 
this  one  evening.  The  good  Pope,  quite  oblivious 
of  his  extravagances  at  the  termination  of  the  last 
piece,  said  to  me:  "That  post  in  the  Piombo  is  worth 
more  than  800  crowns  a  year,  so  that  if  I  gave  it 
you,  you  would  spend  your  time  in  scratching  your 
paunch,1  and  your  magnificent  handicraft  would  be 
lost,  and  I  should  bear  the  blame/'  I  replied  at  once 
as  thus :  "  Cats  of  a  good  breed  mouse  better  when 
they  are  fat  than  starving;  and  likewise  honest  men 
who  possess  some  talent,  exercise  it  to  far  nobler 
purport  when  they  have  the  wherewithal  to  live 
abundantly ;  wherefore  princes  who  provide  such  folk 

1  Gr 'at  tare  ilcorpo,  'which  I  ha<ve  translated  scratch  your  paunchy  is  equivalent  to 
t'wirlyour  thumbs. 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

with  competences,  let  your  Holiness  take  notice,  are 
watering  the  roots  of  genius ;  for  genius  and  talent, 
at  their  birth,  come  into  this  world  lean  and  scabby; 
and  your  Holiness  should  also  know  that  I  never 
asked  for  the  place  with  the  hope  of  getting  it.  Only 
too  happy  I  to  have  that  miserable  post  of  mace- 
bearer.  On  the  other  I  built  but  castles  in  the  air. 
Your  Holiness  will  do  well,  since  you  do  not  care 
to  give  it  me,  to  bestow  it  on  a  man  of  talent  who 
deserves  it,  and  not  upon  some  fat  ignoramus  who 
will  spend  his  time  scratching  his  paunch,  if  I  may 
quote  your  Holiness's  own  words.  Follow  the  ex- 
ample of  Pope  Giulio's  illustrious  memory,  who  con- 
ferred an  office  of  the  same  kind  upon  Bramante, 
that  most  admirable  architect. " 

Immediately  on  finishing  this  speech,  I  made  my 
bow,  and  went  off  in  a  fury.  Then  Bastiano  Venezi- 
ano  the  painter  approached,  and  said:  "  Most  blessed 
Father,  may  your  Holiness  be  willing  to  grant  it  to 
one  who  works  assiduously  in  the  exercise  of  some 
talent;  and  as  your  Holiness  knows  that  I  am  dili- 
gent in  my  art,  I  beg  that  I  may  be  thought  worthy 
of  it."  The  Pope  replied:  "That  devil  Benvenuto 
will  not  brook  rebuke.  I  was  inclined  to  give  it  him, 
but  it  is  not  right  to  be  so  haughty  with  a  Pope. 
Therefore  I  do  not  well  know  what  I  am  to  do." 
The  Bishop  of  Vasona  then  came  up,  and  put  in  a 
word  for  Bastiano,  saying:  "Most  blessed  Father, 
Benvenuto  is  but  young ;  and  a  sword  becomes  him 
better  than  a  friar's  frock.  Let  your  Holiness  give 
the  place  to  this  ingenious  person  Bastiano.  Some 
time  or  other  you  will  be  able  to  bestow  on  Benve- 

C  230  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

nuto  a  good  thing,  perhaps  more  suitable  to  him  than 
this  would  be/'  Then  the  Pope,  turning  to  Messer 
Bartolommeo  Valori,  told  him:  "When  next  you 
meet  Benvenuto,  let  him  know  from  me  that  it  was 
he  who  got  that  office  in  the  Piombo  for  Bastiano  the 
painter,  and  add  that  he  may  reckon  on  obtaining 
the  next  considerable  place  that  falls ;  meanwhile  let 
him  look  to  his  behaviour,  and  finish  my  commis- 


sions." ' 


The  following  evening,  two  hours  after  sundown, 
I  met  Messer  Bartolommeo  Valori2  at  the  corner  of 
the  Mint;  he  was  preceded  by  two  torches,  and  was 
going  in  haste  to  the  Pope,  who  had  sent  for  him. 
On  my  taking  off  my  hat,  he  stopped  and  called  me, 
and  reported  in  the  most  friendly  manner  all  themes- 
sages  the  Pope  had  sent  me.  I  replied  that  I  should 
complete  my  work  with  greater  diligence  and  ap- 
plication than  any  I  had  yet  attempted,  but  without 
the  least  hope  of  having  any  reward  whatever  from 
the  Pope.  Messer  Bartolommeo  reproved  me,  saying 
that  this  was  not  the  way  in  which  one  ought  to  re- 
ply to  the  advances  of  a  Pope.  I  answered  that  I 
should  be  mad  to  reply  otherwise — mad  if  I  based 
my  hopes  on  such  promises,  being  certain  to  get 
nothing.  So  I  departed,  and  went  off  to  my  business. 

1  The  office  of  the  Piombo  in  Rome  'was  a  bureau  in  which  leaden  seals  were  ap- 
pended to  Bulls  and  instruments  of  state.  It  remained  for  a  long  time  in  the  hands  of 
the  Cistercians;  but  it  used  also  to  be  conferred  on  laymen,  among  whom  'were  Bra- 
mante  and  Sebastiano  del  Piombo.  When  the  latter  obtained  it,  he  neglefted  his  art 
and  gave  himself  up  to  "scratching  his  paunch,"  as  Cellini  predicted. 
*  Bartolommeo  or  Baccio  Palori,  a  devoted  adherent  of  the  Medici,  played  an  im- 
portant part  in  Florentine  history.  He  'was  Clement' 's  commissary  to  the  Prince  of 
Orange  during  the  siege.  Afterwards ,  feeling  himself  ill  repaid  jor  his  services,  he 
joined  Filippo  Stroxzi  in  his  opposition  to  the  Medicean  rule,  and  was  beheaded  in 
1537,  together  with  his  son  and  a  nephew. 

I    231     ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Messer  Bartolommeo  must  have  reported  my 
audacious  speeches  to  the  Pope,  and  more  perhaps 
than  I  had  really  said ;  for  his  Holiness  waited  above 
two  months  before  he  sent  to  me,  and  during  that 
while  nothing  would  have  induced  me  to  go  uncalled 
for  to  the  palace.  Yet  he  was  dying  with  impatience 
to  see  the  chalice,  and  commissioned  Messer  Ru- 
berto  Pucci  to  give  heed  to  what  I  was  about.1  That 
right  worthy  fellow  came  daily  to  visit  me,  and  al- 
ways gave  me  some  kindly  word,  which  I  returned. 
The  time  was  drawing  nigh  now  for  the  Pope  to 
travel  toward  Bologna;2  so  at  last,  perceiving  that 
I  did  not  mean  to  come  to  him,  he  made  Messer 
Ruberto  bid  me  bring  my  work,  that  he  might  see 
how  I  was  getting  on.  Accordingly,  I  took  it;  and 
having  shown,  as  the  piece  itself  proved,  that  the 
most  important  part  was  finished,  I  begged  him  to 
advance  me  five  hundred  crowns,  partly  on  account, 
and  partly  because  I  wanted  gold  to  complete  the 
chalice.  The  Pope  said:  "Go  on,  go  on  at  work  till 
it  is  finished."  I  answered,  as  I  took  my  leave,  that 
I  would  finish  it  if  he  paid  me  the  money.  And  so 
I  went  away. 

LVII 

When  the  Pope  took  his  journey  to  Bologna,  he  left 
Cardinal  Salviati  as  Legate  of  Rome,  and  gave  him 
commission  to  push  the  work  that  I  was  doing  for- 

1  Roberto  Pucci  'was  another  of  the  devoted  Medicean  partisans  <who  remained  true 
to  his  colours.  He  sat  among  the  forty-eight  senators  of  Alessandro,  and  'was  made 
a  Cardinal  by  Paul  III.  in  1534. 

8  On  November  18,  1532,  Clement  'went  to  meet  Charles  V.  at  Bologna,  'where,  in 
>529>  he  had  already  given  him  the  Imperial  crown. 

C  232  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ward,  adding:  "Benvenuto  is  a  fellow  who  esteems 
his  own  great  talents  but  slightly,  and  us  less;  look 
to  it  then  that  you  keep  him  always  going,  so  that 
I  may  find  the  chalice  finished  on  my  return." 

That  beast  of  a  Cardinal  sent  for  me  after  eight 
days,  bidding  me  bring  the  piece  up.  On  this  I  went 
to  him  without  the  piece.  No  sooner  had  I  shown 
my  face,  than  he  called  out:  "Where  is  that  onion- 
stew  of  yours  ? '  Have  you  got  it  ready  ? "  I  answered : 
"  O  most  reverend  Monsignor,  I  have  not  got  my 
onion-stew  ready,  nor  shall  I  make  it  ready,  unless 
you  give  me  onions  to  concocl:  it  with/'  At  these 
words,  the  Cardinal,  who  looked  more  like  a  donkey 
than  a  man,  turned  uglier  by  half  than  he  was  natu- 
rally ;  and  wanting  at  once  to  cut  the  matter  short, 
cried  out:  "I'll  send  you  to  a  galley,  and  then  per- 
haps you  '11  have  the  grace2  to  go  on  with  your  labour." 
The  bestial  manners  of  the  man  made  me  a  beast  too ; 
and  I  retorted:  "  Monsignor,  send  me  to  the  galleys 
when  I  've  done  deeds  worthy  of  them ;  but  for  my 
present  laches,  I  snap  my  fingers  at  your  galleys: 
and  what  is  more,  I  tell  you  that,  just  because  of 
you,  I  will  not  set  hand  further  to  my  piece.  Don't 
send  for  me  again,  for  I  won't  appear,  no,  not  if  you 
summon  me  by  the  police." 

After  this,  the  good  Cardinal  tried  several  times 
to  let  me  know  that  I  ought  to  go  on  working,  and 
to  bring  him  what  I  was  doing  to  look  at.  I  only  told 
his  messengers:  "Say  to  Monsignor  that  he  must 

1  Cipollata.  Literally,  a  sho-~w  of  onions  and  pumpkins ;  metaphorically ',  a  mess,  gal- 
limaufry, 

8  Arai  dl  grazia  di.  I  am  not  sure  whether  I  have  given  the  right  shade  of 
meaning  in  the  text  above.  It  may  mean :  You.  <will  be  permitted. 

C   233   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

send  me  onions,  if  he  wants  me  to  get  my  stew 
ready."  Nor  gave  I  ever  any  other  answer;  so  that 
he  threw  up  the  commission  in  despair. 

LVIII 

The  Pope  came  back  from  Bologna,  and  sent  at  once 
for  me,  because  the  Cardinal  had  written  the  worst 
he  could  of  my  affairs  in  his  despatches.  He  was  in 
the  hottest  rage  imaginable,  and  bade  me  come  upon 
the  instant  with  my  piece.  I  obeyed.  Now,  while  the 
Pope  was  staying  at  Bologna,  I  had  suffered  from 
an  attack  of  inflammation  in  the  eyes,  so  painful  that 
I  scarce  could  go  on  living  for  the  torment;  and  this 
was  the  chief  reason  why  I  had  not  carried  out  my 
work.  The  trouble  was  so  serious  that  I  expected 
for  certain  to  be  left  without  my  eyesight ;  and  I  had 
reckoned  up  the  sum  on  which  I  could  subsist,  if  I 
were  blind  for  life.  Upon  the  way  to  the  Pope,  I 
turned  over  in  my  mind  what  I  should  put  forward 
to  excuse  myself  for  not  having  been  able  to  ad- 
vance his  work.  I  thought  that  while  he  was  inspect- 
ing the  chalice,  I  might  tell  him  of  my  personal  em- 
barrassments. However,  I  was  unable  to  do  so ;  for 
when  I  arrived  in  the  presence,  he  broke  out  coarsely 
at  me:  "Come  here  with  your  work ;  is  it  finished?" 
I  displayed  it;  and  his  temper  rising,  he  exclaimed: 
"In  God's  truth  I  tell  thee,  thou  that  makest  it  thy 
business  to  hold  no  man  in  regard,  that,  were  it  not 
for  decency  and  order,  I  would  have  thee  chucked 
together  with  thy  work  there  out  of  windows."  Ac- 
cordingly, when  I  perceived  that  the  Pope  had  be- 
come no.  better  than  a  vicious  beast,  my  chief  anxi- 

[   234   3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ety  was  how  I  could  manage  to  withdraw  from  his 
presence.  So,  while  he  went  on  bullying,  I  tucked 
the  piece  beneath  my  cape,  and  muttered  under  my 
breath:  "The  whole  world  could  not  compel  a  blind 
man  to  execute  such  things  as  these/'  Raising  his 
voice  still  higher,  the  Pope  shouted:  "Come  here; 
what  say'st  thou?"  I  stayed  in  two  minds,  whether 
or  not  to  dash  at  full  speed  down  the  staircase ;  then 
I  took  my  decision  and  threw  myself  upon  my  knees, 
shouting  as  loudly  as  I  could,  for  he  too  had  not 
ceased  from  shouting:  "If  an  infirmity  has  blinded 
me,  am  I  bound  to  go  on  working?"  He  retorted: 
"You  saw  well  enough  to  make  your  way  hither, 
and  I  don't  believe  one  word  of  what  you  say."  I 
answered,  for  I  noticed  he  had  dropped  his  voice  a 
little:  "Let  your  Holiness  inquire  of  your  physician, 
and  you  will  find  the  truth  out."  He  said:  "So  ho! 
softly ;  at  leisure  we  shall  hear  if  what  you  say  is 
so."  Then,  perceiving  that  he  was  willing  to  give  me 
hearing,  I  added:  "I  am  convinced  that  the  only 
cause  of  this  great  trouble  which  has  happened  to 
me  is  Cardinal  Salviati;  for  he  sent  to  me  immedi- 
ately after  your  Holiness's  departure,  and  when  I 
presented  myself,  he  called  my  work  a  stew  of  onions, 
and  told  me  he  would  send  me  to  complete  it  in 
a  galley;  and  such  was  the  effecl;  upon  me  of  his 
knavish  words,  that  in  my  passion  I  felt  my  face  in 
flame,  and  so  intolerable  a  heat  attacked  my  eyes 
that  I  could  not  find  my  own  way  home.  Two  days 
afterwards,  cataracts  fell  on  both  my  eyes;  I  quite 
lost  my  sight,  and  after  your  Holiness's  departure 
I  have  been  unable  to  work  at  all." 

C  235   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Rising  from  my  knees,  I  left  the  presence  without 
further  license.  It  was  afterwards  reported  to  me 
that  the  Pope  had  said:  "  One  can  give  commissions, 
but  not  the  prudence  to  perform  them.  I  did  not  tell 
the  Cardinal  to  go  so  brutally  about  this  business.1 
If  it  is  true  that  he  is  suffering  from  his  eyes, of  which 
I  shall  get  information  through  my  do6lor,  one  ought 
to  make  allowance  for  him."  A  great  gentleman,  inti- 
mate with  the  Pope,  and  a  man  of  very  distinguished 
parts,  happened  to  be  present.  He  asked  who  I  was, 
using  terms  like  these:  "Most  blessed  Father,  par- 
don if  I  put  a  question.  I  have  seen  you  yield  at  one 
and  the  same  time  to  the  hottest  anger  I  ever  ob- 
served, and  then  to  the  warmest  compassion;  so  I 
beg  your  Holiness  to  tell  me  who  the  man  is ;  for  if 
he  is  a  person  worthy  to  be  helped,  I  can  teach  him 
a  secret  which  may  cure  him  of  that  infirmity."  The 
Pope  replied:  "He  is  the  greatest  artist  who  was 
ever  born  in  his  own  craft;  one  day,  when  we  are 
together,  I  will  show  you  some  of  his  marvellous 
works,  and  the  man  himself  to  boot;  and  I  shall  be 
pleased  if  we  can  see  our  way  toward  doing  some- 
thing to  assist  him."  Three  days  after  this,  the  Pope 
sent  for  me  after  dinner-time,  and  I  found  that 
great  noble  in  the  presence.  On  my  arrival,  the  Pope 
had  my  cope-button  brought,  and  I  in  the  meantime 
drew  forth  my  chalice.  The  nobleman  said,  on  look- 
ing at  it,  that  he  had  never  seen  a  more  stupendous 
piece  of  work.  When  the  button  came,  he  was  still 
more  struck  with  wonder:  and  looking  me  straight 
in  the  face,  he  added:  "The  man  is  young,  I  trow, 

1  Che  mettesil  tanta  maxxa. 

236 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

to  be  so  able  in  his  art,  and  still  apt  enough  to  learn 
much."  He  then  asked  me  what  my  name  was.  I 
answered:  "My  name  is  Benvenuto."  He  replied: 
"And  Benvenuto  shall  I  be  this  day  to  you.  Take 
flower-de-luces,  stalk,  blossom,  root,  together;  then 
decocl:  them  over  a  slack  fire;  and  with  the  liquid 
bathe  your  eyes  several  times  a  day ;  you  will  most 
certainly  be  cured  of  that  weakness;  but  see  that 
you  purge  first,  and  then  go  forward  with  the  lotion/' 
The  Pope  gave  me  some  kind  words,  and  so  I  went 
away  half  satisfied. 

LIX 

It  was  true  indeed  that  I  had  got  the  sickness ;  but  I 
believe  I  caught  it  from  that  fine  young  servant-girl 
whom  I  was  keeping  when  my  house  was  robbed. 
The  French  disease,  for  it  was  that,  remained  in  me 
more  than  four  months  dormant  before  it  showed  it- 
self, and  then  it  broke  out  over  my  whole  body  at 
one  instant.  It  was  not  like  what  one  commonly  ob- 
serves, but  covered  my  flesh  with  certain  blisters, 
of  the  size  of  sixpences,  and  rose-coloured.  The  doc- 
tors would  not  call  it  the  French  disease,  albeit  I  told 
them  why  I  thought  it  was  that.  I  went  on  treating 
myself  according  to  their  methods,  but  derived  no 
benefit.  At  last,  then,  I  resolved  on  taking  the  wood, 
against  the  advice  of  the  first  physicians  in  Rome;1 
and  I  took  it  with  the  most  scrupulous  discipline  and 
rules  of  abstinence  that  could  be  thought  of;  and  af- 
ter a  few  days,  I  perceived  in  me  a  great  amend- 
ment. The  result  was  that  at  the  end  of  fifty  days 

1  That  is,  Guiacum,  called  by  the  Italians  legno  santo. 

I  237  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

I  was  cured  and  as  sound  as  a  fish  in  the  water. 

Some  time  afterwards  I  sought  to  mend  my  shat- 
tered health,  and  with  this  view  I  betook  myself  to 
shooting  when  the  winter  came  in.  That  amusement, 
however,  led  me  to  expose  myself  to  wind  and  water, 
and  to  staying  out  in  marsh-lands ;  so  that,  after  a 
few  days,  I  fell  a  hundred  times  more  ill  than  I  had 
been  before.  I  put  myself  once  more  under  doctors' 
orders,  and  attended  to  their  dire&ions,  but  grew 
always  worse.  When  the  fever  fell  upon  me,  I  re- 
solved on  having  recourse  again  to  the  wood;  but 
the  doctors  forbade  it,  saying  that  if  I  took  it  with 
the  fever  on  me,  I  should  not  have  a  week  to  live. 
However,  I  made  my  mind  up  to  disobey  their  or- 
ders, observed  the  same  diet  as  I  had  formerly 
adopted,  and  after  drinking  the  deco6lion  four  days, 
was  wholly  rid  of  fever.  My  health  improved  enor- 
mously; and  while  I  was  following  this  cure,  I  went 
on  always  working  at  the  models  of  the  chalice.  I 
may  add  that,  during  the  time  of  that  stri6l  absti- 
nence, I  produced  finer  things  and  of  more  exquisite 
invention  than  at  any  other  period  of  my  life.  After 
fifty  days  my  health  was  re-established,  and  I  con- 
tinued with  the  utmost  care  to  keep  it  and  confirm 
it.  When  at  last  I  ventured  to  relax  my  rigid  diet, 
I  found  myself  as  wholly  free  from  those  infirmities 
as  though  I  had  been  born  again.  Although  I  took 
pleasure  in  fortifying  the  health  I  so  much  longed 
for,  yet  I  never  left  off  working ;  both  the  chalice  and 
the  Mint  had  certainly  as  much  of  my  attention  as 
was  due  to  them  and  to  myself. 

C  238  i 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

LX 

It  happened  that  Cardinal  Salviati,  who,  as  I  have 
related,  entertained  an  old  hostility  against  me,  had 
been  appointed  Legate  to  Parma.  In  that  city  a  cer- 
tain Milanese  goldsmith,  named  Tobbia,  was  taken 
up  for  false  coining,  and  condemned  to  the  gallows 
and  the  stake.  Representations  in  his  favour,  as  be- 
ing a  man  of  great  ability,  were  made  to  the  Cardi- 
nal, who  suspended  the  execution  of  the  sentence, 
and  wrote  to  the  Pope,  saying  the  best  goldsmith 
in  the  world  had  come  into  his  hands,  sentenced  to 
death  for  coining  false  money,  but  that  he  was  a 
good  simple  fellow,  who  could  plead  in  his  excuse 
that  he  had  taken  counsel  with  his  confessor,  and 
had  received,  as  he  said,  from  him  permission  to  do 
this.  Thereto  he  added:  "If  you  send  for  this  great 
artist  to  Rome,  your  Holiness  will  bring  down  the 
overweening  arrogance  of  your  favourite  Benve- 
nuto,  and  I  am  quite  certain  that  Tobbia's  work  will 
please  you  far  more  than  his."  The  Pope  accordingly 
sent  for  him  at  once;  and  when  the  man  arrived,  he 
made  us  both  appear  before  him,  and  commissioned 
each  of  us  to  furnish  a  design  for  mounting  an  uni- 
corn's horn,  the  finest  which  had  ever  been  seen, 
and  which  had  been  sold  for  17,000  ducats  of  the 
Camera.  The  Pope  meant  to  give  it  to  King  Francis ; 
but  first  he  wished  it  richly  set  in  gold,  and  ordered 
us  to  make  sketches  for  this  purpose.  When  they 
were  finished,  we  took  them  to  the  Pope.  That  of 
Tobbia  was  in  the  form  of  a  candlestick,  the  horn 
being  stuck  in  it  like  a  candle,  and  at  the  base  of  the 

[   239  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

piece  he  had  introduced  four  little  unicorns'  heads 
of  a  very  poor  design.  When  I  saw  the  thing,  I  could 
not  refrain  from  laughing  gently  in  my  sleeve.  The 
Pope  noticed  this,  and  cried:  "  Here,  show  me  your 
sketch ! "  It  was  a  single  unicorn's  head,  proportioned 
in  size  to  the  horn.  I  had  designed  the  finest  head 
imaginable;  for  I  took  it  partly  from  the  horse  and 
partly  from  the  stag,  enriching  it  with  fantastic  mane 
and  other  ornaments.  Accordingly,  no  sooner  was  it 
seen,  than  every  one  decided  in  my  favour.  There 
were,  however,  present  at  the  competition  certain 
Milanese  gentlemen  of  the  first  consequence,  who 
said :  "  Most  blessed  Father,  your  Holiness  is  send- 
ing this  magnificent  present  into  France ;  please  to 
reflect  that  the  French  are  people  of  no  culture,  and 
will  not  understand  the  excellence  of  Benvenuto's 
work ;  pyxes  like  this  one  of  Tobbia's  will  suit  their 
taste  well,  and  these  too  can  be  finished  quicker.' 
Benvenuto  will  devote  himself  to  completing  your 
chalice,  and  you  will  get  two  pieces  done  in  the  same 
time;  moreover,  this  poor  man,  whom  you  have 
brought  to  Rome,  will  have  the  chance  to  be  em- 
ployed." The  Pope,  who  was  anxious  to  obtain  his 
chalice,  very  willingly  adopted  the  advice  of  the  Mi- 
lanese gentlefolk. 

Next  day,  therefore,  he  commissioned  Tobbia  to 
mount  the  unicorn's  horn,  and  sent  his  Master  of  the 
Wardrobe  to  bid  me  finish  the  chalice.2 1  replied  that 

1  The  'word  I  have  translated  pyxes  is  ciborii,  vessels  for  holding  the  Eucharist. 
3  The  Master  of  the  Wardrobe  'was  at  that  time  Giovanni  Aleotti.  I  need  hardly  re- 
mind my  readers  that  Guardaroba  or  wardrobe  'was  the  apartment  in  a  palace  where 
arms,  plate, furniture,  and  clothes  'were  stored.  We  shall  find,  'when  'we  come  to  Cel- 
lini's service  under  Duke  Cosimo,  that  princes  spent  much  of  their  time  in  this  place. 

C    240    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

I  desired  nothing  in  the  world  more  than  to  com- 
plete the  beautiful  work  I  had  begun:  and  if  the  mate- 
rial had  been  anything  but  gold,  I  could  very  easily 
have  done  so  by  myself;  but  it  being  gold,  his  Holi- 
ness must  give  me  some  of  the  metal  if  he  wanted 
me  to  get  through  with  my  work.  To  this  the  vul- 
gar courtier  answered:  " Zounds!  don't  ask  the  Pope 
for  gold,  unless  you  mean  to  drive  him  into  such  a 
fury  as  will  ruin  you."  I  said:  "Oh,  my  good  lord, 
will  your  lordship  please  to  tell  me  how  one  can 
make  bread  without  flour?  Even  so  without  gold 
this  piece  of  mine  cannot  be  finished."  The  Master 
of  the  Wardrobe,  having  an  inkling  that  I  had  made 
a  fool  of  him,  told  me  he  should  report  all  I  had 
spoken  to  his  Holiness;  and  this  he  did.  The  Pope 
flew  into  a  bestial  passion,  and  swore  he  would  wait 
to  see  if  I  was  so  mad  as  not  to  finish  it.  More  than 
two  months  passed  thus ;  and  though  I  had  declared 
I  would  not  give  a  stroke  to  the  chalice,  I  did  not 
do  so,  but  always  went  on  working  with  the  great- 
est interest.  When  he  perceived  I  was  not  going  to 
bring  it,  he  began  to  display  real  displeasure,  and 
protested  he  would  punish  me  in  one  way  or  another. 
A  jeweller  from  Milan  in  the  Papal  service  hap- 
pened to  be  present  when  these  words  were  spoken. 
He  was  called  Pompeo,  and  was  closely  related  to 
Messer  Trajano,  the  most  favoured  servant  of  Pope 
Clement.  The  two  men  came,  upon  a  common  un- 
derstanding, to  him  and  said : "  If  your  Holiness  were 
to  deprive  Benvenuto  of  the  Mint,  perhaps  he  would 
take  it  into  his  head  to  complete  the  chalice/'  To 
this  the  Pope  answered :  "  No ;  two  evil  things  would 

C  241  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

happen:  first,  I  should  be  ill  served  in  the  Mint, 
which  concerns  me  greatly;  and  secondly,  I  should 
certainly  not  get  the  chalice."  The  two  Milanese, 
observing  the  Pope  indisposed  towards  me,  at  last 
so  far  prevailed  that  he  deprived  me  of  the  Mint, 
and  gave  it  to  a  young  Perugian,  commonly  known 
as  Fagiuolo.1  Pompeo  came  to  inform  me  that  his 
Holiness  had  taken  my  place  in  the  Mint  away,  and 
that  if  I  did  not  finish  the  chalice,  he  would  deprive 
me  of  other  things  besides.  I  retorted:  "Tell  his 
Holiness  that  he  has  deprived  himself  and  not  me 
of  the  Mint,  and  that  he  will  be  doing  the  same  with 
regard  to  those  other  things  of  which  he  speaks; 
and  that  if  he  wants  to  confer  the  post  on  me  again, 
nothing  will  induce  me  to  accept  it."  The  graceless 
and  unlucky  fellow  went  off  like  an  arrow  to  find 
the  Pope  and  report  this  conversation ;  he  added  also 
something  of  his  own  invention.  Eight  days  later,  the 
Pope  sent  the  same  man  to  tell  me  that  he  did  not 
mean  me  to  finish  the  chalice,  and  wanted  to  have 
it  back  precisely  at  the  point  to  which  I  had  already 
brought  it.  I  told  Pompeo:  "This  thing  is  not  like 
the  Mint,  which  it  was  in  his  power  to  take  away; 
but  five  hundred  crowns  which  I  received  belong  to 
his  Holiness,  and  I  am  ready  to  return  them;  the 
piece  itself  is  mine,  and  with  it  I  shall  do  what  I  think 
best."  Pompeo  ran  off  to  report  my  speech,  together 
with  some  biting  words  which  in  my  righteous  anger 
I  had  let  fly  at  himself. 


1  Vasari  mentions  a  Girolamo  Fagiuoli,  who  flourished  at  this  period,  but  calls  him 
a  Bolognese. 

242 


LXI 

After  the  lapse  of  three  days,  on  a  Thursday,  there 
came  to  me  two  favourite  Chamberlains  of  his  Holi- 
ness; one  of  them  is  alive  now,  and  a  bishop;  he 
was  called  Messer  Pier  Giovanni,  and  was  an  offi- 
cer of  the  wardrobe ;  the  other  could  claim  nobler 
birth,  but  his  name  has  escaped  me.  On  arriving  they 
spoke  as  follows:  "The  Pope  hath  sent  us,  Ben- 
venuto;  and  since  you  have  not  chosen  to  comply 
with  his  request  on  easy  terms,  his  commands  now 
are  that  either  you  should  give  us  up  his  piece,  or 
that  we  should  take  you  to  prison."  Thereupon  I 
looked  them  very  cheerfully  in  the  face,  replying: 
"  My  lords,  if  I  were  to  give  the  work  to  his  Holi- 
ness, I  should  be  giving  what  is  mine  and  not  his, 
and  at  present  I  have  no  intention  to  make  him  this 
gift.  I  have  brought  it  far  forward  with  great  labour, 
and  do  not  want  it  to  go  into  the  hands  of  some  ig- 
norant beast  who  will  destroy  it  with  no  trouble/' 
While  I  spoke  thus,  the  goldsmith  Tobbia  was  stand- 
ing by,  who  even  presumptuously  asked  me  for  the 
models  also  of  my  work.  What  I  retorted,  in  words 
worthy  of  such  a  rascal,  need  not  here  be  repeated. 
Then,  when  those  gentlemen, the  Chamberlains, kept 
urging  me  to  do  quickly  what  I  meant  to  do,  I  told 
them  I  was  ready.  So  I  took  my  cape  up,  and  before 
I  left  the  shop,  I  turned  to  an  image  of  Christ,  with 
solemn  reverence  and  cap  in  hand,  praying  as  thus: 
"O  gracious  and  undying,  just  and  holy  our  Lord, 
all  the  things  thou  doest  are  according  to  thy  jus- 
tice, which  hath  no  peer  on  earth.  Thou  knowest 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

that  I  have  exa6lly  reached  the  age  of  thirty,  and 
that  up  to  this  hour  I  was  never  threatened  with  a 
prison  for  any  of  my  a6tions.  Now  that  it  is  thy  will 
that  I  should  go  to  prison,  with  all  my  heart  I  thank 
thee  for  this  dispensation/'  Thereat  I  turned  round 
to  the  two  Chamberlains,  and  addressed  them  with 
a  certain  lowering  look  I  have:  "A  man  of  my  qual- 
ity deserved  no  meaner  catchpoles  than  your  lord- 
ships :  place  me  between  you,  and  take  me  as  your 
prisoner  where  you  like/'  Those  two  gentlemen, 
with  the  most  perfect  manners,  burst  out  laughing, 
and  put  me  between  them ;  and  so  we  went  off,  talk- 
ing pleasantly,  until  they  brought  me  to  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Rome,  who  was  called  II  Magalotto.1  When 
I  reached  him  (and  the  Procurator-Fiscal  was  with 
him,  both  waiting  for  me),  the  Pope's  Chamberlains, 
still  laughing,  said  to  the  Governor:  "We  give  up 
to  you  this  prisoner;  now  see  you  take  good  care 
of  him. We  are  very  glad  to  have  acled  in  the  place 
of  your  agents ;  for  Benvenuto  has  told  us  that  this 
being  his  first  arrest,  he  deserved  no  catchpoles  of 
inferior  station  than  we  are."  Immediately  on  leav- 
ing us,  they  sought  the  Pope;  and  when  they  had 
minutely  related  the  whole  matter,  he  made  at  first 
as  though  he  would  give  way  to  passion,  but  after- 
wards he  put  control  upon  himself  and  laughed,  be- 
cause there  were  then  in  the  presence  certain  lords 
and  cardinals,  my  friends,  who  had  warmly  espoused 
my  cause. 

1  Gregorio  Magalotti  'was  a  Roman.  'The  Procurator-Fiscal  'was  then  Benedetto 
Valenti.  Magalotti  is  said  to  have  discharged  his  office  'with  extreme  severity,  and 
to  have  run  great  risks  of  his  life  in  consequence. 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Meanwhile,  the  Governor  and  the  Fiscal  were  at 
me,  partly  bullying,  partly  expostulating,  partly  giv- 
ing advice,  and  saying  it  was  only  reason  that  a 
man  who  ordered  work  from  another  should  be  able 
to  withdraw  it  at  his  choice,  and  in  any  way  which 
he  thought  best.  To  this  I  replied  that  such  proceed- 
ings were  not  warranted  by  justice,  neither  could  a 
Pope  a6l  thus;  for  that  a  Pope  is  not  of  the  same 
kind  as  certain  petty  tyrant  princes,  who  treat  their 
folk  as  badly  as  they  can,  without  regard  to  law  or 
justice ;  and  so  a  Vicar  of  Christ  may  not  commit  any 
of  these  a6ls  of  violence.  Thereat  the  Governor, 
assuming  his  police-court  style  of  threatening  and 
bullying,  began  to  say:  "Benvenuto,  Benvenuto, 
you  are  going  about  to  make  me  treat  you  as  you 
deserve. "  "  You  will  treat  me  with  honour  and  cour- 
tesy, if  you  wish  to  a6l  as  I  deserve."  Taking  me 
up  again,  he  cried:  "Send  for  the  work  at  once,  and 
don't  wait  for  a  second  order."  I  responded:  "My 
lords,  grant  me  the  favour  of  being  allowed  to  say 
four  more  words  jn  my  defence."  The  Fiscal,  who 
was  a  far  more  reasonable  agent  of  police  than  the 
Governor,  turned  to  him  and  said : "  Monsignor,  sup- 
pose we  let  him  say  a  hundred  words,  if  he  likes: 
so  long  as  he  gives  up  the  work,  that  is  enough  for 
us."  I  spoke:  "  If  any  man  you  like  to  name  had  or- 
dered a  palace  or  a  house  to  be  built,  he  could  with 
justice  tell  the  master-mason:  'I  do  not  want  you  to 
go  on  working  at  my  house  or  palace;'  and  after 
paying  him  his  labour,  he  would  have  the  right  to 
dismiss  him.  Likewise,  if  a  nobleman  gave  commis- 
sion for  a  jewel  of  a  thousand  crowns'  value  to  be 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

set,  when  he  saw  that  the  jeweller  was  not  serving 
him  according  to  his  desire,  he  could  say :  *  Give  me 
back  my  stone,  for  I  do  not  want  your  work/  But  in 
a  case  of  this  kind  none  of  those  considerations  ap- 
ply; there  is  neither  house  nor  jewel  here;  nobody 
can  command  me  further  than  that  I  should  return 
the  five  hundred  crowns  which  I  have  had.  There- 
fore, monsignori,  do  everything  you  can  do;  for  you 
will  get  nothing  from  me  beyond  the  five  hundred 
crowns.  Go  and  say  this  to  the  Pope.  Your  threats 
do  not  frighten  me  at  all;  for  I  am  an  honest  man, 
and  stand  in  no  fear  of  my  sins."  The  Governor 
and  Fiscal  rose,  and  said  they  were  going  to  the 
Pope,  and  should  return  with  orders  which  I  should 
soon  learn  to  my  cost.  So  I  remained  there  under 
guard.  I  walked  up  and  down  a  large  hall,  and  they 
were  about  three  hours  away  before  they  came  back 
from  the  Pope.  In  that  while  the  flower  of  our  na- 
tion among  the  merchants  came  to  visit  me,  implor- 
ing me  not  to  persist  in  contending  with  a  Pope,  for 
this  might  be  the  ruin  of  me.  I  answered  them  that  I 
had  made  my  mind  up  quite  well  what  I  wished  to  do. 

LXII 

No  sooner  had  the  Governor  returned,  together  with 
the  Procurator,  from  the  palace,  than  he  sent  for  me, 
and  spoke  to  this  eflfe<5l:  "  Benvenuto,  I  am  certainly 
sorry  to  come  back  from  the  Pope  with  such  com- 
mands as  I  have  received;  you  must  either  produce 
the  chalice  on  the  instant,  or  look  to  your  affairs/' 
Then  I  replied  that "  inasmuch  as  I  had  never  to  that 
hour  believed  a  holy  Vicar  of  Christ  could  commit 

246 


(   M I  LAN   l 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

an  unjust  a6l,  so  I  should  like  to  see  it  before  I  did 
believe  it;  therefore  do  the  utmost  that  you  can." 
The  Governor  rejoined:  "I  have  to  report  a  couple 
of  words  more  from  the  Pope  to  you,  and  then  I  will 
execute  the  orders  given  me.  He  says  that  you  must 
bring  your  work  to  me  here,  and  that  after  I  have 
seen  it  put  into  a  box  and  sealed,  I  must  take  it  to 
him.  He  engages  his  word  not  to  break  the  seal, 
and  to  return  the  piece  to  you  untouched.  But  this 
much  he  wants  to  have  done,  in  order  to  preserve  his 
own  honour  in  the  affair."  In  return  to  this  speech,  I 
answered,  laughing,  that  I  would  very  willingly  give 
up  my  work  in  the  way  he  mentioned,  because  I 
should  be  glad  to  know  for  certain  what  a  Pope's 
word  was  really  worth. 

Accordingly,  I  sent  for  my  piece,  and  having  had 
it  sealed  as  described,  gave  it  up  to  him.  The  Gov- 
ernor repaired  again  to  the  Pope,  who  took  the  box, 
according  to  what  the  Governor  himself  told  me, 
and  turned  it  several  times  about.  Then  he  asked 
the  Governor  if  he  had  seen  the  work ;  and  he  re- 
plied that  he  had,  and  that  it  had  been  sealed  up  in 
his  presence,  and  added  that  it  had  struck  him  as 
a  very  admirable  piece.  Thereupon  the  Pope  said: 
"  You  shall  tell  Benvenuto  that  Popes  have  authority 
to  bind  and  loose  things  of  far  greater  consequence 
than  this;"  and  while  thus  speaking  he  opened  the 
box  with  some  show  of  anger,  taking  off  the  string 
and  seals  with  which  it  was  done  up.  Afterwards  he 
paid  it  prolonged  attention ;  and ,  as  I  subsequently 
heard,  showed  it  to  Tobbia  the  goldsmith,  who  be- 
stowed much  praise  upon  it.  Then  the  Pope  asked 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

him  if  he  felt  equal  to  producing  a  piece  in  that  style. 
On  his  saying  yes,  the  Pope  told  him  to  follow  it 
out  exadtly ;  then  turned  to  the  Governor  and  said: 
"See  whether  Benvenuto  will  give  it  up;  for  if  he 
does,  he  shall  be  paid  the  value  fixed  on  it  by  men 
of  knowledge  in  this  art ;  but  if  he  is  really  bent  on 
finishing  it  himself,  let  him  name  a  certain  time;  and 
if  you  are  convinced  that  he  means  to  do  it,  let  him 
have  all  the  reasonable  accommodations  he  may  ask 
for."  The  Governor  replied:  "  Most  blessed  Father, 
I  know  the  violent  temper  of  this  young  man ;  so  let 
me  have  authority  to  give  him  a  sound  rating  af- 
ter my  own  fashion/'  The  Pope  told  him  to  do  what 
he  liked  with  words,  though  he  was  sure  he  would 
make  matters  worse ;  and  if  at  last  he  could  do  no- 
thing else,  he  must  order  me  to  take  the  five  hundred 
crowns  to  his  jeweller,  Pompeo. 

The  Governor  returned,  sent  for  me  into  his  cabi- 
net, and  casting  one  of  his  catchpole's  glances,  be- 
gan to  speak  as  follows:  "Popes  have  authority  to 
loose  and  bind  the  whole  world,  and  what  they  do 
is  immediately  ratified  in  heaven.  Behold  your  box, 
then,  which  has  been  opened  and  inspected  by  his 
Holiness/'  I  lifted  up  my  voice  at  once,  and  said:  "I 
thank  God  that  now  I  have  learned  and  can  report 
what  the  faith  of  Popes  is  made  of/'  Then  the  Gov- 
ernor launched  out  into  brutal  bullying  words  and 
gestures ;  but  perceiving  that  they  came  to  nothing, 
•he  gave  up  his  attempt  as  desperate,  and  spoke  in 
somewhat  milder  tones  after  this  wise :  "Benvenuto, 
I  am  very  sorry  that  you  are  so  blind  to  your  own 
interest;  but  since  it  is  so,  go  and  take  the  five  hun- 

C  248  i 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

dred  crowns,  when  you  think  fit,  to  Pompeo."  I  took 
my  piece  up,  went  away,  and  carried  the  crowns  to 
Pompeo  on  the  instant.  It  is  most  likely  that  the 
Pope  had  counted  on  some  want  of  money  or  other 
opportunity  preventing  me  from  bringing  so  con- 
siderable a  sum  at  once,  and  was  anxious  in  this  way 
to  repiece  the  broken  thread  of  my  obedience.  When 
then  he  saw  Pompeo  coming  to  him  with  a  smile 
upon  his  lips  and  the  money  in  his  hand,  he  soundly 
rated  him,  and  lamented  that  the  affair  had  turned 
out  so.  Then  he  said:  "Go  find  Benvenuto  in  his 
shop,  and  treat  him  with  all  the  courtesies  of  which 
your  ignorant  and  brutal  nature  is  capable,  and  tell 
him  that  if  he  is  willing  to  finish  that  piece  for  a 
reliquary  to  hold  the  Corpus  Domini  when  I  walk 
in  procession,  I  will  allow  him  the  conveniences  he 
wants  in  order  to  complete  it ;  provided  only  that  he 
goes  on  working."  Pompeo  came  to  me,  called  me 
outside  the  shop,  and  heaped  on  me  the  most  mawk- 
ish caresses  of  a  donkey,1  reporting  everything  the 
Pope  had  ordered.  I  lost  no  time  in  answering  that 
"  the  greatest  treasure  I  could  wish  for  in  the  world 
was  to  regain  the  favour  of  so  great  a  Pope,  which 
had  been  lost  to  me,  not  indeed  by  my  fault,  but  by 
the  fault  of  my  overwhelming  illness  and  the  wick- 
edness of  those  envious  men  who  take  pleasure  in 
making  mischief;  and  since  the  Pope  has  plenty  of 
servants,  do  not  let  him  send  you  round  again,  if 
you  value  your  life  .  .  .  nay,  look  well  to  your  safety. 
I  shall  not  fail,  by  night  or  day,  to  think  and  do 
everything  I  can  in  the  Pope's  service ;  and  bear  this 

1  Lt  piu  ii<vene<vole  carezze  cTasino. 

C  249  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

well  in  mind,  that  when  you  have  reported  these 
words  to  his  Holiness,  you  never  in  any  way  what- 
ever meddle  with  the  least  of  my  affairs,  for  I  will 
make  you  recognise  your  errors  by  the  punishment 
they  merit."  The  fellow  related  everything  to  the 
Pope,  but  in  far  more  brutal  terms  than  I  had  used; 
and  thus  the  matter  rested  for  a  time  while  I  again 
attended  to  my  shop  and  business. 

LXIII 

Tobbia  the  goldsmith  meanwhile  worked  at  the  set- 
ting and  the  decoration  of  the  unicorn's  horn.  The 
Pope,  moreover,  commissioned  him  to  begin  the  chal- 
ice upon  the  model  he  had  seen  in  mine.  But  when 
Tobbia  came  to  show  him  what  he  had  done,  he  was 
very  discontented,  and  greatly  regretted  that  he  had 
broken  with  me,  blaming  all  the  other  man's  works 
and  the  people  who  had  introduced  them  to  him ;  and 
several  times  Baccino  della  Croce  came  from  him  to 
tell  me  that  I  must  not  negle6l  the  reliquary.  I  an- 
swered that  I  begged  his  Holiness  to  let  me  breathe 
a  little  after  the  great  illness  I  had  suffered,  and 
from  which  I  was  not  as  yet  wholly  free,  adding  that 
I  would  make  it  clear  to  him  that  all  the  hours  in 
which  I  could  work  should  be  spent  in  his  service.  I 
had  indeed  begun  to  make  his  portrait,  and  was  exe- 
cuting a  medal  in  secret.  I  fashioned  the  steel  dies 
for  stamping  this  medal  in  my  own  house;  while  I 
kept  a  partner  in  my  workshop,  who  had  been  my 
prentice  and  was  called  Felice. 

At  that  time,  as  is  the  wont  of  young  men,  I  had 
fallen  in  love  with  a  Sicilian  girl,  who  was  exceed- 

C  250  1 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ingly  beautiful.  On  it  becoming  clear  that  she  re-  , 
turned  my  affection,  her  mother  perceived  how  the 
matter  stood,  and  grew  suspicious  of  what  might 
happen.  The  truth  is  that  I  had  arranged  to  elope 
with  the  girl  for  a  year  to  Florence,  unknown  to 
her  mother;  but  she,  getting  wind  of  this,  left  Rome 
secretly  one  night,  and  went  off  in  the  direction  of 
Naples.  She  gave  out  that  she  was  gone  by  Civita 
Vecchia,but  she  really  went  by  Ostia.I  followed  them 
to  Civita  Vecchia,  and  did  a  multitude  of  mad  things 
to  discover  her.  It  would  be  too  long  to  narrate  them 
all  in  detail ;  enough  that  I  was  on  the  point  of  losing 
my  wits  or  dying.  After  two  months  she  wrote  to 
me  that  she  was  in  Sicily,  extremely  unhappy.  I 
meanwhile  was  indulging  myself  in  all  the  pleasures 
man  can  think  of,  and  had  engaged  in  another  love 
affair,  merely  to  drown  the  memory  of  my  real 
passion. 

LXIV 

It  happened  through  a  variety  of  singular  accidents 
that  I  became  intimate  with  a  Sicilian  priest,  who  was 
a  man  of  very  elevated  genius  and  well  instructed 
in  both  Latin  and  Greek  letters.  In  the  course  of  con- 
versation one  day  we  were  led  to  talk  about  the  art 
of  necromancy;  apropos  of  which  I  said :  " Through- 
out my  whole  life  I  have  had  the  most  intense  de- 
sire to  see  or  learn  something  of  this  art."  Thereto 
the  priest  replied:  "A  stout  soul  and  a  steadfast  must 
the  man  have  who  sets  himself  to  such  an  enter- 
prise." I  answered  that  of  strength  and  steadfastness 
of  soul  I  should  have  enough  and  to  spare,  provided  I 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

,  found  the  opportunity.  Then  the  priest  said:  "If  you 
have  the  heart  to  dare  it,  I  will  amply  satisfy  your 
curiosity/'  Accordingly  we  agreed  upon  attempting 
the  adventure. 

The  priest  one  evening  made  his  preparations,  and 
bade  me  find  a  comrade,  or  not  more  than  two.  I 
invited  Vincenzio  Romoli,  a  very  dear  friend  of  mine, 
and  the  priest  took  with  him  a  native  of  Pistoja,  who 
also  cultivated  the  black  art.  We  went  together  to 
the  Coliseum ;  and  there  the  priest,  having  arrayed 
himself  in  necromancer's  robes,  began  to  describe 
circles  on  the  earth  with  the  finest  ceremonies  that 
can  be  imagined.  I  must  say  that  he  had  made  us 
bring  precious  perfumes  and  fire,  and  also  drugs  of 
fetid  odour.  When  the  preliminaries  were  completed, 
he  made  the  entrance  into  the  circle;  and  taking 
us  by  the  hand,  introduced  us  one  by  one  inside 
it.  Then  he  assigned  our  several  functions;  to  the 
necromancer,  his  comrade,  he  gave  the  pentacle  to 
hold ;  the  other  two  of  us  had  to  look  after  the  fire 
and  the  perfumes ;  and  then  he  began  his  incanta- 
tions. This  lasted  more  than  an  hour  and  a  half; 
when  several  legions  appeared,  and  the  Coliseum 
was  all  full  of  devils.  I  was  occupied  ,with  the  pre- 
cious perfumes,  and  when  the  priest  perceived  in 
what  numbers  they  were  present,  he  turned  to  me 
and  said:  "  Benvenuto,ask  them  something."  I  called 
on  them  to  reunite  me  with  my  Sicilian  Angelica. 
That  night  we  obtained  no  answer;  but  I  enjoyed 
the  greatest  satisfaction  of  my  curiosity  in  such  mat- 
ters. The  necromancer  said  that  we  should  have  to 
go  a  second  time,  and  that  I  should  obtain  the  full 

[  252  ]] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

accomplishment  of  my  request;  but  he  wished  me 
to  bring  with  me  a  little  boy  of  pure  virginity. 

I  chose  one  of  my  shop-lads,  who  was  about  twelve 
years  old,  and  invited  Vincenzio  Romoli  again;  and 
we  also  took  a  certain  Agnolino  Gaddi,  who  was  a 
very  intimate  friend  of  both.  When  we  came  once 
more  to  the  place  appointed,  the  necromancer  made 
just  the  same  preparations,  attended  by  the  same 
and  even  more  impressive  details.  Then  he  intro- 
duced us  into  the  circle,  which  he  had  reconstructed 
with  art  more  admirable  and  yet  more  wondrous 
ceremonies.  Afterwards  he  appointed  my  friend  Vin- 
cenzio to  the  ordering  of  the  perfumes  and  the  fire, 
and  with  him  Agnolino  Gaddi.  He  next  placed  in 
my  hand  the  pentacle^  which  he  bid  me  turn  toward 
the  points  he  indicated,  and  under  the  pentacle  I 
held  the  little  boy,  my  workman.  Now  the  necro- 
mancer began  to  utter  those  awful  invocations,  call- 
ing by  name  on  multitudes  of  demons  who  are  cap- 
tains of  their  legions,  and  these  he  summoned  by 
the  virtue  and  potency  of  God,  the  Uncreated,  Liv- 
ing, and  Eternal,  in  phrases  of  the  Hebrew,  and  also 
of  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues ;  insomuch  that  in 
a  short  space  of  time  the  whole  Coliseum  was  full 
of  a  hundredfold  as  many  as  had  appeared  upon 
the  first  occasion.  Vincenzio  Romoli,  together  with 
Agnolino,  tended  the  fire  and  heaped  on  quantities 
of  precious  perfumes.  At  the  advice  of  the  necro- 
mancer, I  again  demanded  to  be  reunited  with  An- 
gelica. The  sorcerer  turned  to  me  and  said :  "  Hear 
you  what  they  have  replied ;  that  in  the  space  of  one 
month  you  will  be  where  she  is  ? "  Then  once  more 

C  253  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

he  prayed  me  to  stand  firm  by  him,  because  the 
legions  were  a  thousandfold  more  than  he  had  sum- 
moned, and  were  the  most  dangerous  of  all  the 
denizens  of  hell ;  and  now  that  they  had  settled  what 
I  asked,  it  behoved  us  to  be  civil  to  them  and  dis- 
miss them  gently.  On  the  other  side,  the  boy,  who 
was  beneath  the  pentacle,  shrieked  out  in  terror  that 
a  million  of  the  fiercest  men  were  swarming  round 
and  threatening  us.  He  said,  moreover,  that  four 
huge  giants  had  appeared,  who  were  striving  to  force 
their  way  inside  the  circle.  Meanwhile  the  necro- 
mancer, trembling  with  fear,  kept  doing  his  best 
with  mild  and  soft  persuasions  to  dismiss  them.  Vin- 
cenzio  Romoli,who  quaked  like  an  aspen  leaf,looked 
after  the  perfumes.  Though  I  was  quite  as  frightened 
as  the  rest  of  them,  I  tried  to  show  it  less,  and  in- 
spired them  all  with  marvellous  courage;  but  the 
truth  is  that  I  had  given  myself  up  for  dead  when 
I  saw  the  terror  of  the  necromancer.  The  boy  had 
stuck  his  head  between  his  knees,  exclaiming:  "This 
is  how  I  will  meet  death,  for  we  are  certainly  dead 
men/'  Again  I  said  to  him:  "These  creatures  are 
all  inferior  to  us,  and  what  you  see  is  only  smoke 
and  shadow ;  so  then  raise  your  eyes.''  When  he  had 
raised  them  he  cried  out:  "The  whole  Coliseum  is 
in  flames,  and  the  fire  is  advancing  on  us;"  then 
covering  his  face  with  his  hands,  he  groaned  again 
that  he  was  dead,  and  that  he  could  not  endure  the 
sight  longer.  The  necromancer  appealed  for  my 
support,  entreating  me  to  stand  firm  by  him,  and  to 
have  assafetida  flung  upon  the  coals ;  so  I  turned  to 
Vincenzio  Romoli,  and  told  him  to  make  the  fumi- 

C  254  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

gation  at  once.  While  uttering  these  words  I  looked 
at  Agnolino  Gaddi,  whose  eyes  were  starting  from 
their  sockets  in  his  terror,  and  who  was  more  than 
half  dead,  and  said  to  him:  "Agnolo,  in  time  and 
place  like  this  we  must  not  yield  to  fright,  but  do 
the  utmost  to  bestir  ourselves ;  therefore,  up  at  once, 
and  fling  a  handful  of  that  assafetida  upon  the  fire." 
Agnolo,  at  the  moment  when  he  moved  to  do  this, 
let  fly  such  a  volley  from  his  breech,  that  it  was  far 
more  effectual  than  the  assafetida.1  The  boy,  roused 
by  that  great  stench  and  noise,  lifted  his  face  a  little, 
and  hearing  me  laugh,  he  plucked  up  courage,  and 
said  the  devils  were  taking  to  flight  tempestuously. 
So  we  abode  thus  until  the  matin-bells  began  to  sound. 
Then  the  boy  told  us  -again  that  but  few  remained, 
and  those  were  at  a  distance.  When  the  necro- 
mancer had  concluded  his  ceremonies,  he  put  off  his 
wizard's  robe,  and  packed  up  a  great  bundle  of  books 
which  he  had  brought  with  him;  then,  all  together, 
we  issued  with  him  from  the  circle,  huddling  as  close 
as  we  could  to  one  another,  especially  the  boy,  who 
had  got  into  the  middle,  and  taken  the  necromancer 
by  his  gown  and  me  by  the  cloak.  All  the  while  that 
we  were  going  toward  our  houses  in  the  Banchi,  he 
kept  saying  that  two  of  the  devils  he  had  seen  in  the 
Coliseum  were  gambolling  in  front  of  us,  skipping 
now  along  the  roofs  and  now  upon  the  ground.  The 
necromancer  assured  me  that,  often  as  he  had  en- 
tered magic  circles,  he  had  never  met  with  such  a 
serious  affair  as  this.  He  also  tried  to  persuade  me 
to  assist  him  in  consecrating  a  book,  by  means  of 

1  fcce  una  istrombazzata  di  coregge  con  tanta  abundanxia  di  merda. 

C  255  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

which  we  should  extract  immeasurable  wealth,  since 
we  could  call  up  fiends  to  show  us  where  treasures 
were,  whereof  the  earth  is  full ;  and  after  this  wise  we 
should  become  the  richest  of  mankind :  love  affairs 
like  mine  were  nothing  but  vanities  and  follies  with- 
out consequence.  I  replied  that  if  I  were  a  Latin 
scholar  I  should  be  very  willing  to  do  what  he  sug- 
gested. He  continued  to  persuade  me  by  arguing 
that  Latin  scholarship  was  of  no  importance,  and  that, 
if  he  wanted,  he  could  have  found  plenty  of  good 
Latinists ;  but  that  he  had  never  met  with  a  man  of 
soul  so  firm  as  mine,  and  that  I  ought  to  follow  his 
counsel.  Engaged  in  this  conversation,  we  reached 
our  homes,  and  each  one  of  us  dreamed  all  that  night 
of  devils. 

LXV 

As  we  were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  daily,  the  necro- 
mancer kept  urging  me  to  join  in  his  adventure.  Ac- 
cordingly, I  asked  him  how  long  it  would  take,  and 
where  we  should  have  to  go.  To  this  he  answered 
that  we  might  get  through  with  it  in  less  than  a 
month,  and  that  the  most  suitable  locality  for  the  pur- 
pose was  the  hill  country  of  Norcia ;'  a  master  of  his 
in  the  art  had  indeed  consecrated  such  a  book  quite 
close  to  Rome,  at  a  place  called  the  Badia  di  Farfa; 
but  he  had  met  with  some  difficulties  there,  which 
would  not  occur  in  the  mountains  of  Norcia;  the 
peasants  also  of  that  district  are  people  to  be  trusted, 
and  have  some  practice  in  these  matters,  so  that  at 

1  'This  distrifi  of  the  Central  Apennines  was  always  famous  for  witches,  poisoners, 
and  so  forth.  The  Farfa  mentioned  below  is  a  'village  of  the  Sabine  hills, 

256 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

a  pinch  they  are  able  to  render  valuable  assistance. 

This  priestly  sorcerer  moved  me  so  by  his  persua- 
sions that  I  was  well  disposed  to  comply  with  his  re- 
quest; but  I  said  I  wanted  first  to  finish  the  medals 
I  was  making  for  the  Pope.  I  had  confided  what  I 
was  doing  about  them  to  him  alone,  begging  him  to 
keep  my  secret.  At  the  same  time  I  never  stopped  ask- 
ing him  if  he  believed  that  I  should  be  reunited  to  my 
Sicilian  Angelica  at  the  time  appointed;  for  the  date 
was  drawing  near,  and  I  thought  it  singular  that  I 
heard  nothing  about  her.  The  necromancer  told  me 
that  it  was  quite  certain  I  should  find  myself  where 
she  was,  since  the  devils  never  break  their  word  when 
they  promise,  as  they  did  on  that  occasion;  but  he 
bade  me  keep  my  eyes  open,  and  be  on  the  lookout 
against  some  accident  which  might  happen  to  me  in 
that  conneclion,  and  put  restraint  upon  myself  to  en- 
dure somewhat  against  my  inclination,  for  he  could 
discern  a  great  and  imminent  danger  in  it:  well  would 
it  be  for  me  if  I  went  with  him  to  consecrate  the  book, 
since  this  would  avert  the  peril  that  menaced  me, 
and  would  make  us  both  most  fortunate. 

I  was  beginning  to  hanker  after  the  adventure  more 
than  he  did;  but  I  said  that  a  certain  Maestro  Gio- 
vanni of  Castel  Bolognese  had  just  come  to  Rome, 
very  ingenious  in  the  art  of  making  medals  of  the 
sort  I  made  in  steel,  and  that  I  thirsted  for  nothing 
more  than  to  compete  with  him  and  take  the  world 
by  storm  with  some  great  masterpiece,  which  I  hoped 
would  annihilate  all  those  enemies  of  mine  by  the 
force  of  genius  and  not  the  sword.1  The  sorcerer  on 

1  Gio.  Eernardi  had  been  in  the  Duke  of  Ferraras  service.  Giovio  brought  him  to 

C  257  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

his  side  went  on  urging:  "Nay,  prithee,  Benvenuto, 
come  with  me  and  shun  a  great  disaster  which  I  see 
impending  over  you."  However,  I  had  made  my 
mind  up,  come  what  would,  to  finish  my  medal,  and 
we  were  now  approaching  the  end  of  the  month.  I 
was  so  absorbed  and  enamoured  by  my  work  that  I 
thought  no  more  about  Angelica  or  anything  of  that 
kind,  but  gave  my  whole  self  up  to  it. 

LXVI 

It  happened  one  day,  close  on  the  hours  of  vespers, 
that  I  had  to  go  at  an  unusual  time  for  me  from  my 
house  to  my  workshop;  for  I  ought  to  say  that  the 
latter  was  in  the  Banchi,  while  I  lived  behind  the 
Banchi,  and  went  rarely  to  the  shop;  all  my  business 
there  I  left  in  the  hands  of  my  partner,  Felice.  Hav- 
ing stayed  a  short  while  in  the  workshop,  I  remem- 
bered that  I  had  to  say  something  to  Alessandro  del 
Bene.  So  I  arose,  and  when  I  reached  the  Banchi, 
I  met  a  man  called  Ser  Benedetto,  who  was  a  great 
friend  of  mine.  He  was  a  notary,  born  in  Florence, 
son  of  a  blind  man  who  said  prayers  about  the  streets 
for  alms,  and  a  Sienese  by  race.  This  Ser  Benedetto 
had  been  very  many  years  at  Naples ;  afterwards  he 
had  settled  in  Rome,  where  he  transacted  businessfor 
some  Sienese  merchants  of  the  Chigi.1  My  partner 
had  over  and  over  again  asked  him  for  some  moneys 
which  were  due  for  certain  little  rings  confided  to 
Ser  Benedetto.  That  very  day,  meeting  him  in  the 

Rome,  where  he  'was  patronised  by  the  Cardinals  Safoiati  and  De*  Medici.  He 
made  a  famous  medal  of  Clement  VII.,  and  'was  a  Pontifical  mace-bearer.  He  died 
at  Faenza  in  1555. 
1  The  MS.  has  Figi ;  but  this  is  probably  a  mistake  of  the  amanuensis. 

258   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Banchi,  he  demanded  his  money  rather  roughly,  as 
his  wont  was.  Benedetto  was  walking  with  his  mas- 
ters, and  they,  annoyed  by  the  interruption,  scolded 
him  sharply,  saying  they  would  be  served  by  some- 
body else,  in  order  not  to  have  to  listen  to  such 
barking.  Ser  Benedetto  did  the  best  he  could  to  ex- 
cuse himself,  swore  that  he  had  paid  the  goldsmith, 
and  said  he  had  no  power  to  curb  the  rage  of  mad- 
men. The  Sienese  took  his  words  ill,  and  dismissed 
him  on  the  spot.  Leaving  them,  he  ran  like  an  arrow 
to  my  shop,  probably  to  take  revenge  upon  Felice. 
It  chanced  that  just  in  the  middle  of  the  street  we 
met.  I,  who  had  heard  nothing  of  the  matter,  greeted 
him  most  kindly,  according  to  my  custom,  to  which 
courtesy  he  replied  with  insults.  Then  what  the  sor- 
cerer had  said  flashed  all  at  once  upon  my  mind ;  and 
bridling  myself  as  well  as  I  was  able,  in  the  way 
he  bade  me,  I  answered :  "  Good  brother  Benedetto, 
don't  fly  into  a  rage  with  me,  for  I  have  done  you 
no  harm,  nor  do  I  know  anything  about  these  affairs 
of  yours.  Please  go  and  finish  what  you  have  to  do 
with  Felice.  He  is  quite  capable  of  giving  you  a  pro- 
per answer;  but  inasmuch  as  I  know  nothing  about 
it,  you  are  wrong  to  abuse  me  in  this  way,  espe- 
cially as  you  are  well  aware  that  I  am  not  the  man 
to  put  up  with  insults/'  He  retorted  that  I  knew  ev- 
erything, and  that  he  was  the  man  to  make  me  bear 
a  heavier  load  than  that,  and  that  Felice  and  I  were 
two  great  rascals.  By  this  time  a  crowd  had  gathered 
round  to  hear  the  quarrel.  Provoked  by  his  ugly 
words,  I  stooped  and  took  up  a  lump  of  mud — for 
it  had  rained  —  and  hurled  it  with  a  quick  and  un- 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

premeditated  movement  at  his  face.  He  ducked  his 
head,  so  that  the  mud  hit  him  in  the  middle  of  the 
skull.  There  was  a  stone  in  it  with  several  sharp 
angles,  one  of  which  striking  him,  he  fell  stunned 
like  a  dead  man:  whereupon  all  the  bystanders,  see- 
ing the  great  quantity  of  blood,  judged  that  he  was 
really  dead. 

LXVII 

While  he  was  still  lying  on  the  ground,  and  people 
were  preparing  to  carry  him  away,  Pompeo  the 
jeweller  passed  by.  The  Pope  had  sent  for  him  to 
give  orders  about  some  jewels.  Seeing  the  fellow  in 
such  a  miserable  plight,  he  asked  who  had  struck 
him;  on  which  they  told  him:  "  Benvenuto  did  it,  but 
the  stupid  creature  brought  it  down  upon  himself/' 
No  sooner  had  Pompeo  reached  the  Pope  than  he 
began  to  speak :  "  Most  blessed  Father,  Benvenuto 
has  this  very  moment  murdered  Tobbia;  I  saw  it 
with  my  own  eyes."  On  this  the  Pope  in  a  fury  or- 
dered the  Governor,  who  was  in  the  presence,  to  take 
and  hang  me  at  once  in  the  place  where  the  homi- 
cide had  been  committed,  adding  that  he  must  do  all 
he  could  to  catch  me,  and  not  appear  again  before 
him  until  he  had  hanged  me. 

When  I  saw  the  unfortunate  Benedetto  stretched 
upon  the  ground,  I  thought  at  once  of  the  peril  I 
was  in,  considering  the  power  of  my  enemies,  and 
what  might  ensue  from  this  disaster.  Making  off,  I 
took  refuge  in  the  house  of  Messer  Giovanni  Gaddi, 
clerk  of  the  Camera,  with  the  intention  of  preparing 
as  soon  as  possible  to  escape  from  Rome.  He,  how- 

C  26°  3 


IPPOLITO    DE     MEDICI 
(  PONTORMO  ) 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ever,  advised  me  not  to  be  in  such  a  hurry,  for  it 
might  turn  out  perhaps  that  the  evil  was  not  so 
great  as  I  imagined;  and  calling  Messer  Annibal 
Caro,  who  lived  with  him,  bade  him  go  for  infor- 
mation. 

While  these  arrangements  were  being  made,  a 
Roman  gentleman  appeared,  who  belonged  to  the 
household  of  Cardinal  de'  Medici,  and  had  been  sent 
by  him.1  Taking  Messer  Giovanni  and  me  apart,  he 
told  us  that  the  Cardinal  had  reported  to  him  what 
the  Pope  said,  and  that  there  was  no  way  of  helping 
me  out  of  the  scrape ;  it  would  be  best  for  me  to  shun 
the  first  fury  of  the  storm  by  flight,  and  not  to  risk 
myself  in  any  house  in  Rome.  Upon  this  gentleman's 
departure,  Messer  Giovanni  looked  me  in  the  face 
as  though  he  were  about  to  cry,  and  said:  "Ah  me! 
Ah  woe  is  me !  There  is  nothing  I  can  do  to  aid  you ! " 
I  replied :  "  By  God's  means,  I  shall  aid  myself  alone ; 
only  I  request  you  to  put  one  of  your  horses  at  my 
disposition."  They  had  already  saddled  a  black  Turk- 
ish horse,  the  finest  and  the  best  in  Rome.  I  mounted 
with  an  arquebuse  upon  the  saddle-bow,  wound  up 
in  readiness  to  fire,  if  need  were.2  When  I  reached 
Ponte  Sisto,I  found  the  whole  of  the  Bargello's  guard 
there,  both  horse  and  foot.  So,  making  a  virtue  of 
necessity,  I  put  my  horse  boldly  to  a  sharp  trot,  and 
with  God's  grace,  being  somehow  unperceived  by 
them,  passed  freely  through.  Then,  with  all  the  speed 

1  Ippolito  de'  Medici  was  a  Cardinal,  much  against  his  natural  inclination.  When 
he 'went  as  Papal  Legate  to  Hungary  in  1532,  he  assumed  the  airs  and  style  of  a 
Condottiere.  His  jealousy  of  his  cousin  Alessandro  led  to  his  untimely  death  by  poison 
in  *535- 

2  The  gun  ewas  an  arquebuso  a  ruota,  'which  had  a  'wheel  to  cock  it. 

£    261     3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

I  could,  I  took  the  road  to  Palombara,  a  fief  of  my 
lord  Giovanbatista  Savello,  whence  I  sent  the  horse 
back  to  Messer  Giovanni,  without,  however,  think- 
ing it  well  to  inform  him  where  I  was.1  Lord  Gio- 
vanbatista, after  very  kindly  entertaining  me  two 
days,  advised  me  to  remove  and  go  toward  Naples 
till  the  storm  blew  over.  So,  providing  me  with  com- 
pany, he  set  me  on  the  way  to  Naples. 

While  travelling,  I  met  a  sculptor  of  my  acquaint- 
ance, who  was  going  to  San  Germane  to  finish  the 
tomb  of  Piero  de'  Medici  at  Monte  Cassino.3  His 
name  was  Solosmeo,  and  he  gave  me  the  news  that 
on  the  very  evening  of  the  fray,  Pope  Clement  sent 
one  of  his  chamberlains  to  inquire  how  Tobbia  was 
getting  on.  Finding  him  at  work,  unharmed,  and 
without  even  knowing  anything  about  the  matter, 
the  messenger  went  back  and  told  the  Pope,  who 
turned  round  to  Pompeo  and  said :  "  You  are  a  good- 
for-nothing  rascal ;  but  I  promise  you  well  that  you 
have  stirred  a  snake  up  which  will  sting  you,  and 
serve  you  right ! "  Then  he  addressed  himself  to 
Cardinal  de'  Medici,  and  commissioned  him  to  look 
after  me,  adding  that  he  should  be  very  sorry  to  let 
me  slip  through  his  fingers.  And  so  Solosmeo  and 
I  went  on  our  way  singing  toward  Monte  Cassino, 

1  A  'village  in  the  Sabina,  north  of  Tivoli.  Gio-v.  Battista  Savelli,  of  a  great  Ro- 
man house,  <was  a  captain  of  cavalry  in  the  Papal  service  after  1530.  In  1540  he 
entered  the  service  of  Duke  Cosimo,  and  died  in  1553. 

8  This  sculptor  'was  Antonio  Solosmeo  of  Settignano.  The  monument  ere  fled  to  Piero 
de*  Medici  (drowned  in  the  Garigliano,  1 504^)  at  Monte  Cassino  is  by  no  means  a 
brilliant  piece  of  Florentine  art.  Piero  ivas  the  exiled  son  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent; 
and  the  Medici,  ivhen  they  regained  their  principality,  ere  fled  this  monument  to  his 
memory,  employing  Antonio  da  San  Gallo,  Francesco  da  San  Gallo,  and  a  Neapoli- 
tan, Matteo  de""  Sjiaranta.  The  work  ivas  begun  in  1532.  Solosmeo  appears  from 
this  passage  in  Cellini  to  have  taken  the  execution  of  it  over. 

262 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

intending  to  pursue  our  journey  thence  in  company 
toward  Naples. 

LXVIII 

When  Solosmeo  had  inspected  his  affairs  at  Monte 
Cassino,  we  resumed  our  journey ;  and  having  come 
within  a  mile  of  Naples,  we  were  met  by  an  inn- 
keeper, who  invited  us  to  his  house,  and  said  he  had 
been  at  Florence  many  years  with  Carlo  Ginori;1 
adding,  that  if  we  put  up  at  his  inn,  he  would  treat 
us  most  kindly,  for  the  reason  that  we  both  were 
Florentines.  We  told  him  frequently  that  we  did  not 
want  to  go  to  him.  However,  he  kept  passing,  some- 
times in  front  and  sometimes  behind,  perpetually  re- 
peating that  he  would  have  us  stop  at  his  hostelry. 
When  this  began  to  bore  me,  I  asked  if  he  could  tell 
me  anything  about  a  certain  Sicilian  woman  called 
Beatrice,  who  had  a  beautiful  daughter  named  Ange- 
lica, and  both  were  courtesans.  Taking  it  into  his  head 
that  I  was  jeering  him,  he  cried  out:  "  God  send  mis- 
chief to  all  courtesans  and  such  as  favour  them ! " 
Then  he  set  spurs  to  his  horse,  and  made  off  as 
though  he  was  resolved  to  leave  us.  I  felt  some  plea- 
sure at  having  rid  myself  in  so  fair  a  manner  of 
that  ass  of  an  innkeeper;  and  yet  I  was  rather  the 
loser  than  the  gainer ;  for  the  great  love  I  bore  An- 
gelica had  come  back  to  my  mind,  and  while  I  was 
con  versing,  not  without  some  lover's  sighs,  upon  this 
subje6l  with  Solosmeo,  we  saw  the  man  returning  to 
us  at  a  gallop.  When  he  drew  up,  he  said:  "Two 
or  perhaps  three  days  ago  a  woman  and  a  girl  came 

1 A  Gonfalonier  of  the  Republic  in  1 5^57. 

[    263    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

back  to  a  house  in  my  neighbourhood ;  they  had  the 
names  you  mentioned,  but  whether  they  are  Sicil- 
ians I  cannot  say."  I  answered:  "Such  power  over 
me  has  that  name  of  Angelica,  that  I  am  now  de- 
termined to  put  up  at  your  inn." 

We  rode  on  all  together  with  mine  host  into  the 
town  of  Naples,  and  descended  at  his  house.  Minutes 
seemed  years  to  me  till  I  had  put  my  things  in  order, 
which  I  did  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye ;  then  I  went 
to  the  house,  which  was  not  far  from  our  inn,  and 
found  there  my  Angelica,  who  greeted  me  with  in- 
finite demonstrations  of  the  most  unbounded  passion. 
I  stayed  with  her  from  evenfall  until  the  following 
morning,  and  enjoyed  such  pleasure  as  I  never  had 
before  or  since ;  but  while  drinking  deep  of  this  de- 
light, it  occurred  to  my  mind  how  exactly  on  that  day 
the  month  expired,  which  had  been  prophesied  within 
the  necromantic  circle  by  the  devils.  So  then  let  every 
man  who  enters  into  relation  with  those  spirits  weigh 
well  the  inestimable  perils  I  have  passed  through! 

LXIX 

I  happened  to  have  in  my  purse  a  diamond,  which  I 
showed  about  among  the  goldsmiths;  and  though  I 
was  but  young,  my  reputation  as  an  able  artist  was 
so  well  known  even  at  Naples  that  they  welcomed 
me  most  warmly.  Among  others,  I  made  acquaint- 
ance with  a  most  excellent  companion,  a  jeweller, 
Messer  Domenico  Fontana  by  name.  This  worthy 
man  left  his  shop  for  the  three  days  that  I  spent  in 
Naples, nor  ever  quitted  my  company , but  showed  me 
many  admirable  monuments  of  antiquity  in  the  city 

C  264  ] 


LIFE -OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

and  its  neighbourhood.  Moreover,  he  took  me  to  pay 
my  respects  to  the  Viceroy  of  Naples,  who  had  let 
him  know  that  he  should  like  to  see  me.  When  I 
presented  myself  to  his  Excellency,  he  received  me 
with  much  honour ;  *  and  while  we  were  exchanging 
compliments,  the  diamond  which  I  have  mentioned 
caught  his  eye.  He  made  me  show  it  him,  and  prayed 
me,  if  I  parted  with  it,  to  give  him  the  refusal.  Hav- 
ing taken  back  the  stone,  I  offered  it  again  to  his  Ex- 
cellency, adding  that  the  diamond  and  I  were  at  his 
service.  Then  he  said  that  the  diamond  pleased  him 
well,  but  that  he  should  be  much  better  pleased  if  I 
were  to  stay  with  him;  he  would  make  such  terms  with 
me  as  would  cause  me  to  feel  satisfied.  We  spoke 
many  words  of  courtesy  on  both  sides ;  and  then  com- 
ing to  the  merits  of  the  diamond,  his  Excellency  bade 
me  without  hesitation  name  the  price  at  which  I  val- 
ued it.  Accordingly  I  said  that  it  was  worth  exactly 
two  hundred  crowns.  He  rejoined  that  in  his  opinion 
I  had  not  overvalued  it ;  but  that  since  I  had  set  it, 
and  he  knew  me  for  the  first  artist  in  the  world,  it 
would  not  make  the  same  effe<5l  when  mounted  by 
another  hand.  To  this  I  said  that  I  had  not  set  the 
stone,  and  that  it  was  not  well  set ;  its  brilliancy  was 
due  to  its  own  excellence ;  and  that  if  I  were  to  mount 
it  afresh,  I  could  make  it  show  far  better  than  it  did. 
Then  I  put  my  thumb-nail  to  the  angles  of  its  facets, 
took  it  from  the  ring,  cleaned  it  up  a  little,  and  handed 
it  to  the  Viceroy.  Delighted  and  astonished,  he  wrote 

1  The  Spams h  Viceroy  was  at  this  time  Pietro  Alvarez  de  Toledo <,  Marquis  of  Villa- 
franca,  and  uncle  of  the  famous  Duke  ofAlva.  He  governed  Naples  for  twenty  years, 
from  1532  onwards. 

L  265  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

me  out  a  cheque '  for  the  two  hundred  crowns  I  had 
demanded. 

When  I  returned  to  my  lodging,  I  found  letters 
from  the  Cardinal  de'  Medici,  in  which  he  told  me  to 
come  back  post-haste  to  Rome,  and  to  dismount  with- 
out delay  at  the  palace  of  his  most  reverend  lordship. 
I  read  the  letter  to  my  Angelica,  who  begged  me 
with  tears  of  aflfe6tion  either  to  remain  in  Naples  or 
to  take  her  with  me.  I  replied  that  if  she  was  disposed 
to  come  with  me,  I  would  give  up  to  her  keeping  the 
two  hundred  ducats  I  had  received  from  the  Vice- 
roy. Her  mother  perceiving  us  in  this  close  conver- 
sation, drew  nigh  and  said : "  Benvenuto,  if  you  want 
to  take  my  daughter  to  Rome,  leave  me  a  sum  of 
fifteen  ducats,  to  pay  for  my  lying-in,  and  then  I  will 
travel  after  you/'  I  told  the  old  harridan  that  I  would 
very  gladly  leave  her  thirty  if  she  would  give  me 
my  Angelica.  We  made  the  bargain,  and  Angelica 
entreated  me  to  buy  her  a  gown  of  black  velvet,  be- 
cause the  stuff  was  cheap  at  Naples.  I  consented  to 
everything,  sent  for  the  velvet,  settled  its  price  and 
paid  for  it ;  then  the  old  woman,  who  thought  me  over 
head  and  ears  in  love,  begged  for  a  gown  of  fine 
cloth  for  herself,  as  well  as  other  outlays  for  her  sons, 
and  a  good  bit  more  money  than  I  had  offered.  I 
turned  to  her  with  a  pleasant  air  and  said:  "  My  dear 
Beatrice,  are  you  satisfied  with  what  I  offered  ? "  She 
answered  that  she  was  not;  thereupon  I  said  that 
what  was  not  enough  for  her  would  be  quite  enough 
for  me;  and  having  kissed  Angelica,  we  parted,  she 

1  Mifece  una  folizxa.  A  polizza  --was  an  order  for  money,  pratiically  identical  with 
our  cheque. 

[   266  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

with  tears,  and  I  with  laughter,  and  off  at  once  I  set 
for  Rome. 

LXX 

I  left  Naples  by  night  with  my  money  in  my  pocket, 
and  this  I  did  to  prevent  being  set  upon  or  murdered, 
as  is  the  way  there;  but  when  I  came  to  Selciata,1  I 
had  to  defend  myself  with  great  address  and  bodily 
prowess  from  several  horsemen  who  came  out  to 
assassinate  me.  During  the  following  days,  after 
leaving  Solosmeo  at  his  work  in  Monte  Cassino,  I 
came  one  morning  to  breakfast  at  the  inn  of  Ada- 
nagni;2  and  when  I  was  near  the  house,  I  shot  some 
birds  with  my  arquebuse.  An  iron  spike,  which  was 
in  the  lock  of  my  musket,  tore  my  right  hand. 
Though  the  wound  was  not  of  any  consequence,  it 
seemed  to  be  so,  because  it  bled  abundantly.  Going 
into  the  inn,  I  put  my  horse  up,  and  ascended  to  a 
large  gallery,  where  I  found  a  party  of  Neapolitan 
gentlemen  just  upon  the  point  of  sitting  down  to 
table;  they  had  with  them  a  young  woman  of  qual- 
ity, the  loveliest  I  ever  saw.  At  the  moment  when  I 
entered  the  room,  I  was  followed  by  a  very  brave 
young  serving-man  of  mine  holding  a  big  partisan 
in  his  hand.  The  sight  of  us,  our  arms,  and  the  blood, 
inspired  those  poor  gentlemen  with  such  terror,  par- 
ticularly as  the  place  was  known  to  be  a  nest  of 
murderers,  that  they  rose  from  table  and  called  on 
God  in  a  panic  to  protect  them.  I  began  to  laugh, 

1  Ponte  a  Selice,  between  Capua  and  Aversa. 

*  Anagni,  nvhere  Boniface  VIII.  <was  outraged  to  the  death  by  the  French  partisans 

of  Philip  le  Bel. 

C   267 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

and  said  that  God  had  prote6led  them  already,  for 
that  I  was  a  man  to  defend  them  against  whoever 
tried  to  do  them  harm.  Then  I  asked  them  for  some- 
thing to  bind  up  my  wounded  hand ;  and  the  charm- 
ing lady  took  out  a  handkerchief  richly  embroidered 
with  gold,  wishing  to  make  a  bandage  with  it.  I  re- 
fused ;  but  she  tore  the  piece  in  half,  and  in  the  gen- 
tlest manner  wrapt  my  hand  up  with  her  fingers. 
The  company  thus  having  regained  confidence,  we 
dined  together  very  gaily ;  and  when  the  meal  was 
over,  we  all  mounted  and  went  off  together.  The 
gentlemen,  however,  were  not  as  yet  quite  at  their 
ease;  so  they  left  me  in  their  cunning  to  entertain 
the  lady,  while  they  kept  at  a  short  distance  behind. 
I  rode  at  her  side  upon  a  pretty  little  horse  of  mine, 
making  signs  to  my  servant  that  he  should  keep 
somewhat  apart,  which  gave  us  the  opportunity  of  . 
discussing  things  that  are  not  sold  by  the  apothe- 
cary.1 In  this  way  I  journeyed  to  Rome  with  the  great- 
est enjoyment  I  have  ever  had. 

When  I  got  to  Rome,  I  dismounted  at  the  palace 
of  Cardinal  de'  Medici,  and  having  obtained  an  au- 
dience of  his  most  reverend  lordship,  paid  my  re- 
spects, and  thanked  him  warmly  for  my  recall.  I  then 
entreated  him  to  secure  me  from  imprisonment,  and 
even  from  a  fine  if  that  were  possible.  The  Cardinal 
was  very  glad  to  see  me;  told  me  to  stand  in  no 
fear;  then  turned  to  one  of  his  gentlemen,  called 
Messer  Pier  Antonio  Pecci  of  Siena,  ordering  him 
to  tell  the  Bargello  not  to  touch  me.a  He  then  asked 

1  i.e.,  private  and  sentimental. 

*This  Pecci  passed  into  the  service  of  Cater ina  de''  Medici.  In  1551  he  schemed  to 

268 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

him  how  the  man  was  going  on  whose  head  I  had 
broken  with  the  stone.  Messer  Pier  Antonio  replied 
that  he  was  very  ill,  and  that  he  would  probably 
be  even  worse ;  for  when  he  heard  that  I  was  com- 
ing back  to  Rome,  he  swore  he  would  die  to  serve 
me  an  ill  turn.  When  the  Cardinal  heard  that,  he 
burst  into  a  fit  of  laughter,  and  cried:  "The  fellow 
could  not  have  taken  a  better  way  than  this  to  make 
us  know  that  he  was  born  a  Sienese."  After  that 
he  turned  to  me  and  said :  "  For  our  reputation  and 
your  own,  refrain  these  four  or  five  days  from  going 
about  in  the  Banchi ;  after  that  go  where  you  like, 
and  let  fools  die  at  their  own  pleasure/' 

I  went  home  and  set  myself  to  finishing  the  medal 
which  I  had  begun,  with  the  head  of  Pope  Clement 
and  a  figure  of  Peace  on  the  reverse.  The  figure 
was  a  slender  woman,  dressed  in  very  thin  drapery, 
gathered  at  the  waist,  with  a  little  torch  in  her  hand, 
which  was  burning  a  heap  of  arms  bound  together 
like  a  trophy.  In  the  background  I  had  shown  part 
of  a  temple,  where  was  Discord  chained  with  a  load 
of  fetters.  Round  about  it  ran  a  legend  in  these 
words:  Clauduntur  belli portte.1 

During  the  time  that  I  was  finishing  this  medal, 
the  man  whom  I  had  wounded  recovered,  and  the 
Pope  kept  incessantly  asking  for  me.  I,  however, 
avoided  visiting  Cardinal  de'  Medici;  for  whenever 
I  showed  my  face  before  him,  his  lordship  gave  me 
some  commission  of  importance,  which  hindered  me 

withdraw  Siena  from  the  Spanish  to  the  French  cause,  and  was  declared  a  rebel. 
1  The  medal  'was  struck  to  celebrate  the  peace  in  Christendom  between  1530  and 
1536. 

269 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

from  working  at  my  medal  to  the  end.  Consequently 
Messer  Pier  Carnesecchi,  who  was  a  great  favour- 
ite of  the  Pope's,  undertook  to  keep  me  in  sight, 
and  let  me  adroitly  understand  how  much  the  Pope 
desired  my  services.1  I  told  him  that  in  a  few  days 
I  would  prove  to  his  Holiness  that  his  service  had 
never  been  neglected  by  me. 

LXXI 

Not  many  days  had  passed  before,  my  medal  be- 
ing finished,  I  stamped  it  in  gold,  silver,  and  cop- 
per. After  I  had  shown  it  to  Messer  Pietro,  he  im- 
mediately introduced  me  to  the  Pope.  It  was  on  a 
day  in  April  after  dinner,  and  the  weather  very  fine ; 
the  Pope  was  in  the  Belvedere.  After  entering  the 
presence,  I  put  my  medals  'together  with  the  dies 
of  steel  into  his  hand.  He  took  them,  and  recognis- 
ing at  once  their  mastery  of  art,  looked  Messer  Piero 
in  the  face  and  said :  "  The  ancients  never  had  such 
medals  made  for  them  as  these." 

While  he  and  the  others  were  inspecting  them, 
taking  up  now  the  dies  and  now  the  medals  in  their 
hands,  I  began  to  speak  as  submissively  as  I  was 
able:  "If  a  greater  power  had  not  controlled  the 
working  of  my  inauspicious  stars,  and  hindered  that 
with  which  they  violently  menaced  me,  your  Holi- 
ness, without  your  fault  or  mine,  would  have  lost 
a  faithful  and  loving  servant.  It  must,  most  blessed 
Father,  be  allowed  that  in  those  cases  where  men 
are  risking  all  upon  one  throw,  it  is  not  wrong  to 

1  Piero  Carnesecchi  was  one  of  the  martyrs  of  free-thought  in  Italy.  He  adopted 
Protestant  opinions,  and  ivas  beheaded  and  burned  in  Rome,  August  1567. 

C  270  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

do  as  certain  poor  and  simple  men  are  wont  to  say, 
who  tell  us  we  must  mark  seven  times  and  cut  once.1 
Your  Holiness  will  remember  how  the  malicious  and 
lying  tongue  of  my  bitter  enemy  so  easily  aroused 
your  anger,  that  you  ordered  the  Governor  to  have 
me  taken  on  the  spot  and  hanged;  but  I  have  no 
doubt  that  when  you  had  become  aware  of  the  ir- 
reparable a<5t  by  which  you  would  have  wronged 
yourself,  in  cutting  off  from  you  a  servant  such  as 
even  now  your  Holiness  hath  said  he  is,  I  am  sure, 
I  repeat,  that,  before  God  and  the  world,  you  would 
have  felt  no  trifling  twinges  of  remorse.  Excellent 
and  virtuous  fathers,  and  masters  of  like  quality, 
ought  not  to  let  their  arm  in  wrath  descend  upon 
their  sons  and  servants  with  such  inconsiderate  haste, 
seeing  that  subsequent  repentance  will  avail  them 
nothing.  But  now  that  God  has  overruled  the  malign 
influences  of  the  stars  and  saved  me  for  your  Holi- 
ness, I  humbly  beg  you  another  time  not  to  let  your- 
self so  easily  be  stirred  to  rage  against  me." 

The  Pope  had  stopped  from  looking  at  the  medals 
and  was  now  listening  attentively  to  what  I  said. 
There  were  many  noblemen  of  the  greatest  conse- 
quence present,  which  made  him  blush  a  little,  as  it 
were  for  shame ;  and  not  knowing  how  else  to  ex- 
tricate himself  from  this  entanglement,  he  said  that 
he  could  not  remember  having  given  such  an  order. 
I  changed  the  conversation  in  order  to  cover  his  em- 
barrassment. His  Holiness  then  began  to  speak  again 

1  Segnar  sette  e  tagliar  uno.  A  proverb  derived  possibly  from  felling  trees  \  or,  as  some 
commentators  interpret,  from  the  points  made  by  sculptors  on  their  marble  before  they 
block  the  statue  out. 

C  271  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

about  the  medals,  and  asked  what  method  I  had  used 
to  stamp  them  so  marvellously,  large  as  they  were; 
for  he  had  never  met  with  ancient  pieces  of  that  size. 
We  talked  a  little  on  this  subje6l ;  but  being  not 
quite  easy  that  I  might  not  begin  another  leclure 
sharper  than  the  last,  he  praised  my  medals,  and 
said  they  gave  him  the  greatest  satisfaction,  but  that 
he  should  like  another  reverse  made  according  to  a 
fancy  of  his  own,  if  it  were  possible  to  stamp  them 
with  two  different  patterns.  I  said  that  it  was  pos- 
sible to  do  so.  Then  his  Holiness  commissioned  me 
to  design  the  history  of  Moses  when  he  strikes  the 
rock  and  water  issues  from  it,  with  this  motto:  Ut 
bibat  populus.1  At  last  he  added:  "Go,  Benvenuto; 
you  will  not  have  finished  it  before  I  have  provided 
for  your  fortune."  After  I  had  taken  leave,  the  Pope 
proclaimed  before  the  whole  company  that  he  would 
give  me  enough  to  live  on  wealthily  without  the 
need  of  labouring  for  any  one  but  him'.  So  I  devoted 
myself  entirely  to  working  out  this  reverse  with  the 
Moses  on  it. 

LXXII 

In  the  meantime  the  Pope  was  taken  ill,  and  his 
physicians  thought  the  case  was  dangerous.  Accord- 
ingly my  enemy  began  to  be  afraid  of  me,  and  en- 
gaged some  Neapolitan  soldiers  to  do  to  me  what 
he  was  dreading  I  might  do  to  him.2  I  had  therefore 
much  trouble  to  defend  my  poor  life.  In  course  of 

1  The  medal  commemorated  a  deep  'well  sunk  by  Clement  at  Orvieto. 
3  The  meaning  of  this  is,  that  if  Clement  died,  Cellini  'would  have  had  his  oppor- 
tunity of  vengeance  during  the  anarchy  'which  followed  a  vacancy  of  the  Papal 
See. 

C  272  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

time,  however,  I  completed  the  reverse;  and  when 
I  took  it  to  the  Pope,  I  found  him  in  bed  in  a  most 
deplorable  condition.  Nevertheless,  he  received  me 
with  the  greatest  kindness,  and  wished  to  inspe6l 
the  medals  and  the  dies.  He  sent  for  spe6tacles  and 
lights,  but  was  unable  to  see  anything  clearly.  Then 
he  began  to  fumble  with  his  fingers  at  them,  and 
having  felt  them  a  short  while,  he  fetched  a  deep 
sigh,  and  said  to  his  attendants  that  he  was  much 
concerned  about  me,  but  that  if  God  gave  him  back 
his  health  he  would  make  it  all  right. 

Three  days  afterwards  the  Pope  died,  and  I  was 
left  with  all  my  labour  lost ;  yet  I  plucked  up  cour- 
age, and  told  myself  that  these  medals  had  won  me 
so  much  celebrity,  that  any  Pope  who  was  elecled 
would  give  me  work  to  do,  and  peradventure  bring 
me  better  fortune.  Thus  I  encouraged  and  put  heart 
into  myself,  and  buried  in  oblivion  all  the  injuries 
which  Pompeo  had  done  me.  Then  putting  on  my 
arms  and  girding  my  sword,  I  went  to  San  Piero, 
and  kissed  the  feet  of  the  dead  Pope,  not  without 
shedding  tears.  Afterwards  I  returned  to  the  Banchi 
to  look  on  at  the  great  commotion  which  always 
happens  on  such  occasions. 

While  I  was  sitting  in  the  street  with  several  of 
my  friends,  Pompeo  went  by,  attended  by  ten  men 
very  well  armed;  and  when  he  came  just  opposite,  he 
stopped,  as  though  about  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  my- 
self. My  companions,  brave  and  adventurous  young 
men,  made  signs  to  me  to  draw  my  sword;  but  it 
flashed  through  my  mind  that  if  I  drew,  some  terrible 
mischief  might  result  for  persons  who  were  wholly 

C   2?3  J 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

innocent.  Therefore  I  considered  that  it  would  be 
better  if  I  put  my  life  to  risk  alone.  When  Pompeo 
had  stood  there  time  enough  to  say  two  Ave  Maries, 
he  laughed  derisively  in  my  direction ;  and  going  off, 
his  fellows  also  laughed  and  wagged  their  heads, 
with  many  other  insolent  gestures.  My  companions 
wanted  to  begin  the  fray  at  once;  but  I  told  them 
hotly  that  I  was  quite  able  to  conduct  my  quarrels  to 
an  end  by  myself,  and  that  I  had  no  need  of  stouter 
fighters  than  I  was ;  so  that  each  of  them  might  mind 
his  business.  My  friends  were  angry  and  went  off 
muttering.  Now  there  was  among  them  my  dearest 
comrade,  named  Albertaccio  del  Bene,  own  brother 
to  Alessandro  and  Albizzo,  who  is  now  a  very  rich 
man  in  Lyons.  He  was  the  most  redoubtable  young 
man  I  ever  knew,  and  the  most  high-spirited,  and 
loved  me  like  himself;  and  insomuch  as  he  was  well 
aware  that  my  forbearance  had  not  been  inspired 
by  want  of  courage,  but  by  the  most  daring  bravery, 
for  he  knew  me  down  to  the  bottom  of  my  nature, 
he  took  my  words  up  and  begged  me  to  favour  him 
so  far  as  to  associate  him  with  myself  in  all  I  meant 
to  do.  I  replied:  "Dear  Albertaccio,  dearest  to  me 
above  all  men  that  live,  the  time  will  very  likely 
come  when  you  shall  give  me  aid ;  but  in  this  case, 
if  you  love  me,  do  not  attend  to  me,  but  look  to  your 
own  business,  and  go  at  once  like  our  other  friends, 
for  now  there  is  no  time  to  lose."  These  words  were 
spoken  in  one  breath. 


C  274 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

/ 

LXXIII 

In  the  meanwhile  my  enemies  had  proceeded  slowly 
toward  Chiavica,  as  the  place  was  called,  and  had 
arrived  at  the  crossing  of  several  roads,  going  in 
different  directions ;  but  the  street  in  which  Pompeo's 
house  stood  was  the  one  which  leads  straight  to  the 
Campo  di  Fiore.  Some  business  or  other  made  him 
enter  the  apothecary's  shop  which  stood  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Chiavica,  and  there  he  stayed  a  while  trans- 
acting it.  I  had  just  been  told  that  he  had  boasted 
of  the  insult  which  he  fancied  he  had  put  upon  me; 
but  be  that  as  it  may,  it  was  to  his  misfortune ;  for 
precisely  when  I  came  up  to  the  corner,  he  was  leav- 
ing the  shop,  and  his  bravi  had  opened  their  ranks 
and  received  him  in  their  midst.  I  drew  a  little  dag- 
ger with  a  sharpened  edge,  and  breaking  the  line 
of  his  defenders,  laid  my  hands  upon  his  breast  so 
quickly  and  coolly,  that  none  of  them  were  able  to 
prevent  me.  Then  I  aimed  to  strike  him  in  the  face ; 
but  fright  made  him  turn  his  head  round;  and  I 
stabbed  him  just  beneath  the  ear.  I  only  gave  two 
blows,  for  he  fell  stone  dead  at  the  second.  I  had  not 
meant  to  kill  him;  but  as  the  saying  goes,  knocks 
are  not  dealt  by  measure.  With  my  left  hand  I  plucked 
back  the  dagger,  and  with  my  right  hand  drew  my 
sword  to  defend  my  life.  However,  all  those  bravi 
ran  up  to  the  corpse  and  took  no  a6lion  against  me ; 
so  I  went  back  alone  through  Strada  Giulia,  consid- 
ering how  best  to  put  myself  in  safety.  ' 

I  had  walked  about  three  hundred  paces,  when 
Piloto  the  goldsmith,  my  very  good  friend,  came  up 

L  275  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

and  said:  "Brother,  now  that  the  mischief's  done, 
we  must  see  to  saving  you."  I  replied:  "Let  us  go 
to  Albertaccio  del  Bene's  house;  it  is  only  a  few 
minutes  since  I  told  him  I  should  soon  have  need  of 
him/'  When  we  arrived  there,  Alhertaccio  and  I  em- 
braced with  measureless  affection;  and  soon  the  whole 
flower  of  the  young  men  of  the  Banchi,  of  all  na- 
tions except  the  Milanese,  came  crowding  in;  and 
each  and  all  made  proffer  of  their  own  life  to  save 
mine.  Messer  Luigi  Rucellai  also  sent  with  marvel- 
lous promptitude  and  courtesy  to  put  his  services  at 
my  disposal,  as  did  many  other  great  folk  of  his  sta- 
tion; for  they  all  agreed  in  blessing  my  hands,1 
judging  that  Pompeo  had  done  me  too  great  and 
unforgivable  an  injury,  and  marvelling  that  I  had 
put  up  with  him  so  long. 

LXXIV 

Cardinal  Cornaro,on  hearing  of  the  affair,  despatched 
thirty  soldiers,  with  as  many  partisans,  pikes,  and 
arquebuses,  to  bring  me  with  all  due  respect:  to  his 
quarters.2  This  he  did  unasked;  whereupon  I  ac- 
cepted the  invitation,  and  went  off  with  them,  while 
more  than  as  many  of  the  young  men  bore  me  com- 
pany. Meanwhile,  Messer  Traiano,  Pompeo 's  rela- 
tive and  first  chamberlain  to  the  Pope,  sent  a  Mi- 
lanese of  high  rank  to  Cardinal  de'  Medici,  giving 
him  news  of  the  great  crime  I  had  committed,  and 
calling  on  his  most  reverend  lordship  to  chastise  me. 

1  Tutti  tfaccorJo  mi  benedissono  le  mam.  This  is  tantamount  to  approving  Cellini  s 
handiwork  in  murdering  Pompeo. 

*  This  'was  Francesco,  brother  to  Cardinal  Marco  Cornaro.  He  received  the  hat  in 
1 528,  while  yet  a  layman,  and  the  Bishopric  of  Brescia  in  1531. 

C  276  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

The  Cardinal  retorted  on  the  spot:  "  His  crime  would 
indeed  have  been  great  if  he  had  not  committed  this 
lesser  one ;  thank  Messer  Traiano  from  me  for  giv- 
ing me  this  information  of  a  fact  of  which  I  had  not 
heard  before."  Then  he  turned  and  in  presence  of 
the  nobleman  said  to  the  Bishop  of  Frulli,1  his  gentle- 
man and  intimate  acquaintance:"  Search  diligently  af- 
ter my  friend  Benvenuto ;  I  want  to  help  and  defend 
him ;  and  whoso  acts  against  him  acts  against  my- 
self/' The  Milanese  nobleman  went  back,  much  dis- 
concerted, while  the  Bishop  of  Frulli  came  to  visit 
me  at  Cardinal  Cornaro's  palace.  Presenting  himself 
to  the  Cardinal,  he  related  how  Cardinal  de'  Medici 
had  sent  for  -Benvenuto,  and  wanted  to  be  his  pro- 
tector. Now  Cardinal  Cornaro,  who  had  the  touchy 
temper  of  a  bear,  flew  into  a  rage,  and  told  the 
Bishop  he  was  quite  as  well  able  to  defend  me  as 
Cardinal  de*  Medici.  The  Bishop,  in  reply,  entreated 
to  be  allowed  to  speak  with  me  on  some  matters  of 
his  patron  which  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  affair. 
Cornaro  bade  him  for  that  day  make  as  though  he 
had  already  talked  with  me. 

Cardinal  de'  Medici  was  very  angry.  However,  I 
went  the  following  night,  without  Cornaro's  know- 
ledge, and  under  good  escort,to  pay  him  my  respects. 
Then  I  begged  him  to  grant  me  the  favour  of  leav- 
ing me  where  I  was,  and  told  him  of  the  great  cour- 
tesy which  Cornaro  had  shown  me;  adding  that  if 
his  most  reverend  lordship  suffered  me  to  stay,  I 
should  gain  one  friend  the  more  in  my  hour  of  need ; 
otherwise  his  lordship  might  dispose  of  me  exactly 

1  Forli.  The  Bishop  was  Bernardo  de*  Medici. 

C  277  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

as  he  thought  best.  He  told  me  to  do  as  I  liked ;  so 
I  returned  to  Cornaro's  palace,  and  a  few  days  after- 
wards the  Cardinal  Farnese  was  elected  Pope.1 

After  he  had  put  affairs  of  greater  consequence  in 
order,  the  new  Pope  sent  for  me,  saying  that  he  did 
not  wish  any  one  else  to  strike  his  coins.  To  these 
words  of  his  Holiness  a  gentleman  very  privately 
acquainted  with  him,  named  Messer  Latino  Juvinale, 
made  answer  that  I  was  in  hiding  for  a  murder  com- 
mitted on  the  person  of  one  Pompeo  of  Milan,  and 
set  forth  what  could  be  argued  for  my  justification 
in  the  most  favourable  terms.3  The  Pope  replied: 
"I  knew  nothing  of  Pompeo's  death,  but  plenty  of 
Benvenuto's  provocation ;  so  let  a  safe-condu6l  be  at 
once  made  out  for  him,  in  order  that  he  may  be 
placed  in  perfect  security/'  A  great  friend  of  Pom- 
peo's, who  was  also  intimate  with  the  Pope,  hap- 
pened to  be  there ;  he  was  a  Milanese,  called  Messer 
Ambrogio.3  This  man  said: "  In  the  first  days  of  your 
papacy  it  were  not  well  to  grant  pardons  of  this 
kind."  The  Pope  turned  to  him  and  answered: "  You 
know  less  about  such  matters  than  I  do.  Know  then 
that  men  like  Benvenuto,  unique  in  their  profession, 
stand  above  the  law;  and  how  far  more  'he,  then, 
who  received  the  provocation  I  have  heard  of?" 
When  my  safe-condu6l  had  been  drawn  out,  I  began 
at  once  to  serve  him,  and  was  treated  with  the  utmost 
favour. 

1  Paul  III.,  elefled  Ofiober  13,  1534. 

8  Latino  Giffvenale  de"  Manetti  'was  a  Latin  poet  and  a  man  of  humane  learning^ 

much  esteemed  by  his  contemporaries. 

3  Ambrogio  Recalcati.  He  cwas  for  many  years  the  trusted  secretary  and  diplomatic 

agent  of  Paul  IIL 

C  278  D 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

LXXV 

Messer  Latino  Juvinale  came  to  call  on  me,  and  gave 
me  orders  to  strike  the  coins  of  the  Pope.  This  roused 
up  all  my  enemies,  who  began  to  look  about  how 
they  should  hinder  me ;  but  the  Pope, perceiving  their 
drift,  scolded  them,  and  insisted  that  I  should  go  on 
working.  I  took  the  dies  in  hand,  designing  a  S.  Paul, 
surrounded  with  this  inscription:  Vas  eleSlionis.  This 
piece  of  money  gave  far  more  satisfaction  than  the 
models  of  my  competitors;  so  that  the  Pope  forbade 
any  one  else  to  speak  to  him  of  coins,  since  he  wished 
me  only  to  have  to  do  with  them.  This  encouraged 
me  to  apply  myself  with  untroubled  spirit  to  the  task ; 
and  Messer  Latino  Juvinale,  who  had  received  such 
orders  from  the  Pope,  used  to  introduce  me  to  his 
Holiness.  I  had  it  much  at  heart  to  recover  the  post 
of  stamper  to  the  Mint ;  but  on  this  point  the  Pope 
took  advice,  and  then  told  me  I  must  first  obtain  par- 
don for  the  homicide,  and  this  I  should  get  at  the 
holy  Maries'  day  in  August  through  the  Caporioni  of 
Rome.1  I  may  say  that  it  is  usual  every  year  on  this 
solemn  festival  to  grant  the  freedom  of  twelve  out- 
laws to  these  officers.  Meanwhile  he  promised  to 
give  me  another  safe-conduct,  which  should  keep 
me  in  security  until  that  time. 

When  my  enemies  perceived  that  they  were  quite 
unable  to  devise  the  means  of  keeping  me  out  of  the 
Mint,  they  resorted  to  another  expedient.  The  de- 

1  Le  Sante  Marie.  So  the  feast  of  the  Assumption  is  called  at  Florence,  because  de- 
votion is  paid  on  that  day  to  the  various  images  of  the  Virgin  scattered  through  the 
town.  The  Caporioni  of  Rome  'were,  like  aldermen,  -wardens  of  the  districts  into 
•wAicA  the  city  iuas  divided. 

C 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

ceased  Pompeo  had  left  three  thousand  ducats  as 
dowry  to  an  illegitimate  daughter  of  his ;  and  they 
contrived  that  a  certain  favourite  of  Signor  Pier 
Luigi,  the  Pope's  son,  should  ask  her  hand  in  mar- 
riage through  the  medium  of  his  master.1  Accord- 
ingly the  match  came  off;  but  this  fellow  was  an 
insignificant  country  lad,  who  had  been  brought  up 
by  his  lordship;  and,  as  folk  said,  he  got  but  little 
of  the  money,  since  his  lordship  laid  his  hands  on  it 
and  had  the  mind  to  use  it.  Now  the  husband  of  the 
girl,  to  please  his  wife,  begged  the  prince  to  have  me 
taken  up;  and  he  promised  to  do  so  when  the  first 
flush  of  my  favour  with  the  Pope  had  passed  away. 
Things  stood  so  about  two  months,  the  servant  al- 
ways suing  for  his  wife's  dower,  the  master  putting 
him  oflfwith  pretexts,  but  assuring  the  woman  that 
he  would  certainly  revenge  her  father's  murder.  I 
obtained  an  inkling  of  these  designs ;  yet  I  did  not 
omit  to  present  myself  pretty  frequently  to  his  lord- 
ship, who  made  show  of  treating  me  with  great  dis- 
tinction. He  had,  however,  decided  to  do  one  or  other 
of  two  things — either  to  have  me  assassinated,  or  to 
have  me  taken  up  by  the  Bargello.  Accordingly  he 
commissioned  a  certain  little  devil  of  a  Corsican  sol- 
dier in  his  service  to  do  the  trick  as  cleverly  as  he 
could  ;2  and  my  other  enemies,  with  Messer  Traiano 
at  the  head  of  them,  promised  the  fellow  a  reward 
of  one  hundred  crowns.  He  assured  them  that  the 

1  Pier  Luigi  Farnese,  Paul  III."s  bastard,  nvas  successively  created  Gonfaloniere  of 
the  Church,  Duke  of  Castro,  Marquis  of  No*vara,  and  finally  Duke  of  Parma  and 
Piacenza  in  1 54.5.  He  ivas  murdered  at  Parma  by  his  (nun  courtiers  in  1 547.  He 
'was  a  man  of  infamous  habits,  quite  unfit  for  the  high  dignities  conferred  on  him. 
*  Che  la  faces  ii  piu  netta  che  poteva. 

C  280  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

job  would  be  as  easy  as  sucking  a  fresh  egg.  Seeing 
into  their  plot,  I  went  about  with  my  eyes  open  and 
with  good  attendance,  wearing  an  under-coat  and 
armlets  of  mail,  for  which  I  had  obtained  permission. 
The  Corsican,  influenced  by  avarice,  hoped  to  gain 
the  whole  sum  of  money  without  risk,  and  imagined 
himself  capable  of  carrying  the  matter  through  alone. 
Consequently,  one  day  after  dinner,  he  had  me  sent 
for  in  the  name  of  Signor  Pier  Luigi.  I  went  off  at 
once,  because  his  lordship  had  spoken  of  wanting  to 
order  several  big  silver  vases.  Leaving  my  home  in 
a  hurry,  armed  however  as  usual,  I  walked  rapidly 
through  Strada  Giulia  toward  the  Palazzo  Farnese, 
not  expe6ting  to  meet  anybody  at  that  hour  of  day. 
I  had  reached  the  end  of  the  street  and  was  making 
toward  the  palace,  when,  my  habit  being  always  to 
turn  the  corners  wide,  I  observed  the  Corsican  get 
up  and  take  his  station  in  the  middle  of  the  road. 
Being  prepared,!  was  not  in  the  least  disconcerted; 
but  kept  upon  my  guard,  and  slackening  pace  a  lit- 
tle, drew  nearer  toward  the  wall,  in  order  to  give 
the  fellow  a  wide  berth.  He  on  his  side  came  closer 
to  the  wall,  and  when  we  were  now  within  a  short 
distance  of  each  other,  I  perceived  by  his  gestures 
that  he  had  it  in  his  mind  to  do  me  a  mischief,  and 
seeing  me  alone  thus,  thought  he  should  succeed. 
Accordingly,  I  began  to  speak  and  said:  "Brave 
soldier,  if  it  had  been  night,  you  might  have  said 
you  had  mistaken  me,  but  since  it  is  full  day,  you 
know  well  enough  who  I  am.  I  never  had  anything 
to  do  with  you,  and  never  injured  you,  but  should 
be  well  disposed  to  do  you  service/'  He  replied  in 

C  281  ]    , 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

a  high-spirited  way,  without,  however,  making  room 
for  me  to  pass,  that  he  did  not  know  what  I  was 
saying.  Then  I  answered : "  I  know  very  well  indeed 
what  you  want,  and  what  you  are  saying ;  but  the 
job  which  you  have  taken  in  hand  is  more  danger- 
ous and  difficult  than  you  imagine,  and  may  perad- 
venture  turn  out  the  wrong  way  for  you.  Remem- 
ber that  you  have  to  do  with  a  man  who  would  de- 
fend himself  against  a  hundred ;  and  the  adventure 
you  are  on  is  not  esteemed  by  men  of  courage  like 
yourself/'  Meanwhile  I  also  was  looking  black  as 
thunder,  and  each  of  us  had  changed  colour.  Folk 
too  gathered  round  us,  for  it  had  become  clear  that 
our  words  meant  swords  and  daggers.  He  then,  not 
having  the  spirit  to  lay  hands  on  me,  cried  out: 
"We  shall  meet  another  time."  I  answered:  "I  am 
always  glad  to  meet  honest  men  and  those  who 
show  themselves  as  such." 

When  we  parted,  I  went  to  his  lordship's  palace, 
and  found  he  had  not  sent  for  me.  When  I  returned 
to  my  shop,  the  Corsican  informed  me,  through  an 
intimate  friend  of  his  and  mine,  that  I  need  not  be 
on  my  guard  against  him,  since  he  wished  to  be  my 
good  brother ;  but  that  I  ought  to  be  much  upon  my 
guard  against  others,  seeing  I  was  in  the  greatest 
peril,  for  folk  of  much  consequence  had  sworn  to 
have  my  life.  I  sent  to  thank  him,  and  kept  the  best 
lookout  I  could.  Not  many  days  after,  a  friend  of 
mine  informed  me  that  Signor  Pier  Luigi  had  given 
stri<5l  orders  that  I  should  be  taken  that  very  even- 
ing. They  told  me  this  at  twenty;  whereupon  I  spoke 
with  some  of  my  friends,  who  advised  me  to  be  off 

282 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

at  once.  The  order  had  been  given  for  one  hour 
after  sunset;  accordingly  at  twenty-three  I  left  in 
the  post  for  Florence.  It  seems  that  when  the  Cor- 
sican  showed  that  he  had  not  pluck  enough  to  do 
the  business  as  he  promised,  Signor  Pier  Luigi  on 
his  own  authority  gave  orders  to  have  me  taken, 
merely  to  stop  the  mouth  of  Pompeo's  daughter, 
who  was  always  clamouring  to  know  where  her 
dower  had  gone  to.  When  he  was  unable  to  gratify 
her  in  this  matter  of  revenge  on  either  of  the  two 
plans  he  had  formed,  he  bethought  him  of  another, 
which  shall  be  related  in  its  proper  place. 

LXXVI 

I  reached  Florence  in  due  course,  and  paid  my  re- 
spects to  the  Duke  Alessandro,  who  greeted  me  with 
extraordinary  kindness  and  pressed  me  to  remain  in 
his  service.  There  was  then  at  Florence  a  sculptor 
called  II  Tribolino,  and  we  were  gossips,  for  I  had 
stood  godfather  to  his  son.1  In  course  of  conversation 
he  told  me  that  a  certain  Giacopo  del  Sansovino,  his 
first  master,  had  sent  for  him ;  and  whereas  he  had 
never  seen  Venice,  and  because  of  the  gains  he  ex- 
pected, he  was  very  glad  to  go  there.2  On  his  asking 

1  Niccolo  de  Pericoli,  a  Florentine,  'who  got  the  nickname  of  Tribolo  in  his  boyhood, 
<was  a  sculptor  of  some  distinction.  He  worked  on  the  bas-reliefs  of  San  Petronio  at 
Bologna,  and  helped  Michel  Agnolo  da  Siena  to  execute  the  tomb  of  Adrian  71.  at 
Rome.  Afterwards  he  ivas  employed  upon  the  sculpture  of  the  Santa  Casa  at  Lo- 
reto.  He  also  made  some  excellent  bronze-work  for  the  Medicean  'villas  at  Cestello 
and  Petraja.  All  through  his  life  Tribolo  served  the  Medici,  and  during  the  siege  of 
Florence  in  1530  he  constructed  a  cork  model  of  the  town  for  Clement  VII.  Born 
1485,  died  1550. 

a  This  is  the  famous  Giacopo  Tatti,  who  took  his  artist's  surname  from  his  master, 
Andrea  da  Monte  a  Sansovino.  His  'works  at  Florence,  Rome,  and  Venice  are  justly 
famous.  He  died  in  1570,  aged  ninety-three. 

C  283  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

me  if  I  had  ever  been  at  Venice,  I  said  no;  this  made 
him  invite  me  to  accompany  him,  and  I  agreed.  So 
then  I  told  Duke  Alessandro  that  I  wanted  first  to 
go  to  Venice,  and  that  afterwards  I  would  return  to 
serve  him.  He  exa6led  a  formal  promise  to  this  ef- 
fect, and  bade  me  present  myself  before  I  left  the 
city.  Next  day,  having  made  my  preparations,  I  went 
to  take  leave  of  the  Duke,  whom  I  found  in  the  pal- 
ace of  the  Pazzi,  at  that  time  inhabited  by  the  wife 
and  daughters  of  Signer  Lorenzo  Cibo.1  Having  sent 
word  to  his  Excellency  that  I  wished  to  set  off  for 
Venice  with  his  good  leave,  Signor  Cosimino  de'  Me- 
dici,now  Duke  of  Florence, returned  with  the  answer 
that  I  must  go  to  Niccolo  da  Monte  Aguto,  who  would 
give  me  fifty  golden  crowns,  which  his  Excellency 
bestowed  on  me  in  sign  of  his  good- will,  and  after- 
wards I  must  return  to  serve  him. 

I  got  the  money  from  Niccolo,  and  then  went  to 
fetch  Tribolo,  whom  I  found  ready  to  start;  and  he 
asked  me  whether  I  had  bound  my  sword.  I  an- 
swered that  a  man  on  horseback  about  to  take  a  jour- 
ney ought  not  to  bind  his  sword.  He  said  that  the 
custom  was  so  in  Florence,  since  a  certain  Ser  Mau- 
rizio  then  held  office,  who  was  capable  of  putting 
S.  John  the  Baptist  to  the  rack  for  any  trifling  pec- 
cadillo.2 Accordingly  one  had  to  carry  one's  sword 
bound  till  the  gates  were  passed.  I  laughed  at  this, 
and  so  we  set  off,  joining  the  courier  to  Venice,  who 
was  nicknamed  II  Lamentone.  In  his  company  we 

1 A  brother  of  the  Cardinal,  and  himself  Marquis  of  Massa. 
2  Ser  Maurizio  <was  entitled  Chancellor ,  but  really  superintended  the  criminal  magis- 
tracy of  Florence.  Varchi  and  Segni  both  speak  of  him  as  harsh  and  cruel  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  office. 

284 


GIACOPO    TATTI.    CALLED      SANSOVINO 
(TINTORETTO) 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

travelled  through  Bologna,  and  arrived  one  evening 
at  Ferrara.  There  we  halted  at  the  inn  of  the  Piazza, 
while  Lamentone  went  in  search  of  some  Florentine 
exiles,  to  take  them  letters  and  messages  from  their 
wives.  The  Duke  had  given  orders  that  only  the 
courier  might  talk  to  them,  and  no  one  else,  under 
penalty  of  incurring  the  same  banishment  as  they 
had.  Meanwhile,  since  it  was  a  little  past  the  hour 
of  twenty-two,  Tribolo  and  I  went  to  see  the  Duke 
of  Ferrara  come  back  from  Belfiore,  where  he  had 
been  at  a  jousting  match.  There  we  met  a  number 
of  exiles,  who  stared  at  us  as  though  they  wished 
to  make  us  speak  with  them.  Tribolo,  who  was  the 
most  timorous  man  that  I  have  ever  known,  kept 
on  saying:  "Do  not  look  at  them  or  talk  to  them, 
if  you  care  to  go  back  to  Florence."  So  we  stayed, 
and  saw  the  Duke  return ;  afterwards,  when  we  re- 
gained our  inn,  we  found  Lamentone  there.  After 
nightfall  there  appeared  Niccolo  Benintendi,  and  his 
brother  Piero,  and  another  old  man,  whom  I  believe 
to  have  been  Jacopo  Nardi,1  together  with  some 
young  fellows,  who  began  immediately  to  ask  the 
courier  news,  each  man  of  his  own  family  in  Flor- 
ence.2 Tribolo  and  I  kept  at  a  distance,  in  order  to 
avoid  speaking  with  them.  After  they  had  talked  a 
while  with  Lamentone, Niccolo  Benintendi3  said:  "I 
know  those  two  men  there  very  well;  what's  the 

1  Jacopo  Nardi  ivas  the  excellent  historian  of  Florence,  a  strong  anti-Medicean  par- 
tisan, iv ho  'was  exiled  in  1530. 

a  /  have  translated  the  'word  brigata  by  family  above,  because  I  find  Cellini  in  one 
of  his  letters  alluding  to  his  family  as  la  mia  brigatina. 

3  Niccolo  Benintendi,  <who  had  been  a  member  of  the  Eight  in  1529,  was  exiled  by 
the  Medici  in  1530. 

C  285  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

reason  they  give  themselves  such  beastly  airs,  and 
will  not  talk  to  us?"  Tribolo  kept  begging  me  to 
hold  my  tongue,  while  Lamentone  told  them  that 
we  had  not  the  same  permission  as  he  had.  Benin- 
tendi  retorted  it  was  idiotic  nonsense,  adding  "  Pox 
take  them,"  and  other  pretty  flowers  of  speech. Then 
I  raised  my  head  as  gently  as  I  could,  and  said: 
"  Dear  gentlemen,  you  are  able  to  do  us  serious  in- 
jury, while  we  cannot  render  you  any  assistance; 
and  though  you  have  flung  words  at  us  which  we 
are  far  from  deserving,  we  do  not  mean  on  that  ac- 
count to  get  into  a  rage  with  you."  Thereupon  old 
Nardi  said  that  I  had  spoken  like  a  worthy  young  man 
as  I  was.  But  Niccolo  Benintendi  shouted : "  I  snap  my 
fingers  at  them  and  the  Duke."1  I  replied  that  he 
was  in  the  wrong  toward  us,  since  we  had  nothing 
to  do  with  him  or  his  affairs.  Old  Nardi  took  our 
part,  telling  Benintendi  plainly  that  he  was  in  the 
wrong,  which  made  him  go  on  muttering  insults. 
On  this  I  bade  him  know  that  I  could  say  and  do 
things  to  him  which  he  would  not  like,  and  there- 
fore he  had  better  mind  his  business,  and  let  us 
alone.  Once  more  he  cried  out  that  he  snapped  his 
fingers  at  the  Duke  and  us,  and  that  we  were  all 
of  us  a  heap  of  donkeys.2 1  replied  by  giving  him  the 
lie  dire<5t  and  drawing  my  sword.  The  old  man  want- 
ing to  be  first  upon  the  staircase,  tumbled  down  some 
steps,  and  all  the  rest  of  them  came  huddling  after  him. 
I  rushed  onward,  brandishing  my  sword  along  the 
walls  with  fury,  and  shouting:  "I  will  kill  you  all!" 
but  I  took  good  care  not  to  do  them  any  harm,  as  I 

1  The  Florentine  slang  is  lo  ho  in  culo  loro  e  il  duca.  *  Un  monte  di  asini. 

C  286  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

might  too  easily  have  done.  In  the  midst  of  this  tu- 
mult the  innkeeper  screamed  out;  Lamentone  cried, 
"For  God's  sake,  hold!"  some  of  them  exclaimed, 
"Oh  me,  my  head!"  others,  "Let  me  get  out  from 
here."  In  short,  it  was  an  indescribable  confusion; 
they  looked  like  a  herd  of  swine.  Then  the  host  came 
with  a  light,  while  I  withdrew  upstairs  and  put  my 
sword  back  in  its  scabbard.  Lamentone  told  Niccolo 
Benintendi  that  he  had  behaved  very  ill.  The  host 
said  to  him :  "  It  is  as  much  as  one's  life  is  worth  to 
draw  swords  here;  and  if  the  Duke  were  to  know 
of  your  brawling,  he  would  have  you  hanged.  I  will 
not  do  to  you  what  you  deserve;  but  take  care  you 
never  show  yourself  again  in  my  inn,  or  it  will  be 
the  worse  for  you."  Our  host  then  came  up  to  me, 
and  when  I  began  to  make  him  my  excuses,  he  would 
not  suffer  me  to  say  a  word,  but  told  me  that  he 
knew  I  was  entirely  in  the  right,  and  bade  me  be 
upon  my  guard  against  those  men  upon  my  journey. 

LXXVII 

After  we  had  supped,  a  barge-man  appeared,  and 
offered  to  take  us  to  Venice.  I  asked  if  he  would  let 
us  have  the  boat  to  ourselves;  he  was  willing,  and 
so  we  made  our  bargain.  In  the  morning  we  rose 
early,  and  mounted  our  horses  for  the  port,  which  is 
a  few  miles  distant  from  Ferrara.  On  arriving  there, 
we  found  Niccolo  Benintendi's  brother,  with  three 
comrades,  waiting  for  me.  They  had  among  them 
two  lances,  and  I  had  bought  a  stout  pike  in  Fer- 
rara. Being  very  well  armed  to  boot,  I  was  not  at 
all  frightened,  as  Tribolo  was,  who  cried:  "  God  help 

C  287  J 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

us!  those  fellows  are  waiting  here  to  murder  us." 
Lamentone  turned  to  me  and  said :  "  The  best  that 
you  can  do  is  to  go  back  to  Ferrara,  for  I  see  that 
the  affair  is  likely  to  be  ugly;  for  Heaven's  sake, 
Benvenuto,  do  not  risk  the  fury  of  these  mad  beasts." 
To  which  I  replied:  "Let  us  go  forward,  for  God 
helps  those  who  have  the  right  on  their  side;  and 
you  shall  see  how  I  will  help  myself.  Is  not  this 
boat  engaged  for  us?"  "Yes,"  said  Lamentone. 
"Then  we  will  stay  in  it  without  them,  unless  my 
manhood  has  deserted  me."  I  put  spurs  to  my  horse, 
and  when  I  was  within  fifty  paces,  dismounted  and 
marched  boldly  forward  with  my  pike.  Tribolo  stopped 
behind,  all  huddled  up  upon  his  horse,  looking  the 
very  image  of  frost.  Lamentone,  the  courier,  mean- 
while, was  swelling  and  snorting  like  the  wind.  That 
was  his  usual  habit;  but  now  he  did  so  more  than 
he  was  wont,  being  in  doubt  how  this  devilish  affair 
would  terminate.  When  I  reached  the  boat,  the  mas- 
ter presented  himself  and  said  that  those  Florentine 
gentlemen  wanted  to  embark  in  it  with  us,  if  I  was 
willing.  I  answered:  "The  boat  is  engaged  for  us 
and  no  one  else,  and  it  grieves  me  to  the  heart  that 
I  am  not  able  to  have  their  company."  At  these  words 
a  brave  young  man  of  the  Magalotti  family  spoke 
out:  "  Benvenuto,  we  will  make  you  able  to  have  it." 
To  which  I  answered:  "If  God  and  my  good  cause, 
together  with  my  own  strength  of  body  and  mind, 
possess  the  will  and  the  power,  you  shall  not  make 
me  able  to  have  what  you  say.  So  saying  I  leapt  into 
the  boat,  and  turning  my  pike's  point  against  them, 
added:  "I'll  show  you  with  this  weapon  that  I  am 

C  288  H 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

not  able/'  Wishing  to  prove  he  was  in  earnest, 
Magalotti  then  seized  his  own  and  came  toward  me. 
I  sprang  upon  the  gunwale  and  hit  him  such  a  blow, 
that,  if  he  had  not  tumbled  backward,  I  must  have 
pierced  his  body.  His  comrades,  in  lieu  of  helping 
him,  turned  to  fly ;  and  when  I  saw  that  I  could  kill 
him,  instead  of  striking,  I  said:  "Get  up,  brother; 
take  your  arms  and  go  away.  I  have  shown  you  that 
I  cannot  do  what  I  do  not  want,  and  what  I  had  the 
power  to  do  I  have  not  chosen  to  do/'  Then  I  called 
for  Tribolo,  the  boatman,  and  Lamentone  to  embark ; 
and  so  we  got  under  way  for  Venice.  When  we  had 
gone  ten  miles  on  the  Po,  we  sighted  those  young 
men,  who  had  got  into  a  skiff  and  caught  us  up;  and 
when  they  were  alongside,  that  idiot  Piero  Benin- 
tendi  sang  out  to  me:  "  Go  thy  ways  this  time,  Ben- 
venuto;  we  shall  meet  in  Venice/'  "Set  out  betimes 
then,"  I  shouted,  "for  I  am  coming,  and  any  man 
can  meet  me  where  he  lists."  In  due  course  "we  ar- 
rived at  Venice,  when  I  applied  to  a  brother  of  Car- 
dinal Cornaro,  begging  him  to  procure  for  me  the 
favour  of  being  allowed  to  carry  arms.  He  advised 
me  to  do  so  without  hesitation,  saying  that  the  worst 
risk  I  ran  was  that  I  might  lose  my  sword. 

LXXVIII 

Accordingly  I  girded  on  my  sword,  and  went  to 
visit  Jacopo  del  Sansovino,  the  sculptor,  who  had  sent 
for  Tribolo.  He  received  me  most  kindly,  and  in- 
vited us  to  dinner,  and  we  stayed  with  him.  In  course 
of  conversation  with  Tribolo,  he  told  him  that  he  had 
no  work  to  give  him  at  the  moment,  but  that  he 

C   289   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

might  call  again.  Hearing  this,  I  burst  out  laughing, 
and  said  pleasantly  to  Sansovino:  "Your  house  is 
too  far  off  from  his,  if  he  must  call  again/'  Poor 
Tribolo,  all  in  dismay,  exclaimed:  "I  have  got  your 
letter  here,  which  you  wrote  to  bid  me  come."  San- 
sovino rejoined  that  men  of  his  sort,  men  of  worth 
and  genius,  were  free  to  do  that  and  greater  things 
besides.  Tribolo  shrugged  up  his  shoulders  and  mut- 
tered: "Patience,  patience,"  several  times.  There- 
upon, without  regarding  the  copious  dinner  which 
Sansovino  had  given  me,  I  took  the  part  of  my  com- 
rade Tribolo,  for  he  was  in  the  right.  All  the  while 
at  table  Sansovino  had  never  stopped  chattering 
about  his  great  achievements,  abusing  Michel  Ag- 
nolo  and  the  rest  of  his  fellow-sculptors,  while  he 
bragged  and  vaunted  himself  to  the  skies.  This  had 
so  annoyed  me  that  not  a  single  mouthful  which 
I  ate  had  tasted  well ;  but  I  refrained  from  saying 
more  than  these  two  words:  "Messer  Jacopo,  men 
of  worth  a6l  like  men  of  worth,  and  men  of  genius, 
who  produce  things  beautiful  and  excellent,  shine 
forth  far  better  when  other  people  praise  them  than 
when  they  boast  so  confidently  of  their  own  achieve- 
ments." Upon  this  he  and  I  rose  from  table  blow- 
ing off  the  steam  of  our  choler.  The  same  day,  hap- 
pening to  pass  near  the  Rialto,  I  met  Piero  Benin- 
tendi  in  the  company  of  some  men ;  and  perceiving 
that  they  were  going  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  me,  I 
turned  into  an  apothecary's  shop  till  the  storm  blew 
over.  Afterwards  I  learned  that  the  young  Maga- 
lotti,  to  whom  I  showed  that  courtesy,  had  scolded 
them  roundly;  and  thus  the  affair  ended. 

C  290  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

LXXIX 

A  few  days  afterwards  we  set  out  on  our  return  to 
Florence.  We  lay  one  night  at  a  place  on  this  side 
Chioggia,  on  the  left  hand  as  you  go  toward  Fer- 
rara.  Here  the  host  insisted  upon  being  paid  before 
we  went  to  bed,  and  in  his  own  way;  and  when  I 
observed  that  it  was  the  custom  everywhere  else  to 
pay  in  the  morning,  he  answered :  "  I  insist  on  being 
paid  overnight,  and  in  my  own  way."  I  retorted  that 
men  who  wanted  everything  their  own  way  ought 
to  make  a  world  after  their  own  fashion,  since  things 
were  differently  managed  here.  Our  host  told  me 
not  to  go  on  bothering  his  brains,  because  he  was 
determined  to  do  as  he  had  said.  Tribolo  stood  trem- 
bling with  fear,  and  nudged  me  to  keep  quiet,  lest 
they  should  do  something  worse  to  us;  so  we  paid 
them  in  the  way  they  wanted,  and  afterwards  we 
retired  to  rest.  We  had,  I  must  admit,  the  most  capi- 
tal beds,  new  in  every  particular,  and  as  clean  as 
they  could  be.  Nevertheless  I  did  not  get  one  wink 
of  sleep,  because  I  kept  on  thinking  how  I  could  re- 
venge myself.  At  one  time  it  came  into  my  head  to 
set  fire  to  his  house;  at  another  to  cut  the  throats 
of  four  fine  horses  which  he  had  in  the  stable ;  I  saw 
well  enough  that  it  was  easy  for  me  to  do  all  this ; 
but  I  could  not  see  how  it  was  easy  to  secure  my- 
self and  my  companion.  At  last  I  resolved  to  put  my 
things  and  my  comrade's  on  board  the  boat;  and  so 
I  did.  When  the  towing-horses  had  been  harnessed 
to  the  cable,  I  ordered  the  people  not  to  stir  before 
I  returned,  for  I  had  left  a  pair  of  slippers  in  my  bed- 

291 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

room.  Accordingly  I  went  back  to  the  inn  and  called 
our  host,  who  told  me  he  had  nothing  to  do  with 
us,  and  that  we  might  go  to  Jericho.1  There  was  a 
ragged  stable-boy  about,  half  asleep,  who  cried  out 
to  me:  "The  master  would  not  move  to  please  the 
Pope,  because  he  has  got  a  wench  in  bed  with  him, 
whom  he  has  been  wanting  this  long  while."  Then 
he  asked  me  for  a  tip,  and  I  gave  him  a  few  Vene- 
tian coppers,  and  told  him  to  make  the  barge-man 
wait  till  I  had  found  my  slippers  and  returned.  I  went 
upstairs,  took  out  a  little  knife  as  sharp  as  a  razor, 
and  cut  the  four  beds  that  I  found  there  into  ribbons. 
I  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  I  had  done  a  dam- 
age of  more  than  fifty  crowns.  Then  I  ran  down  to 
the  boat  with  some  pieces  of  the  bed-covers2  in  my 
pouch,  and  bade  the  bargee  start  at  once  without 
delay.  We  had  not  gone  far  before  my  gossip  Tri- 
bolo  said  that  he  had  left  behind  some  little  straps 
belonging  to  his  carpet-bag,  and  that  he  must  be  al- 
lowed to  go  back  for  them.  I  answered  that  he  need 
not  take  thought  for  a  pair  of  little  straps,  since  I 
could  make  him  as  many  big  ones  as  he  liked.3  He 
told  me  I  was  always  joking,  but  that  he  must  really 
go  back  for  his  straps.  Then  he  began  ordering  the 
bargee  to  stop,  while  I  kept  ordering  him  to  go  on. 
Meanwhile  I  informed  my  friend  what  kind  of  trick 
I  had  played  our  host,  and  showed  him  specimens 
of  the  bed-covers  and  other  things,  which  threw 
him  into  such  a  quaking  fright  that  he  roared  out  to 

1  E  che  noi  andassimo  al  bordello. 

2  Sarge.  Sargia  is  interpreted  sopraccoperta  del  letto. 

3  The  Italian  for  straps,  coregge,  has  a  double  meaning,  upon  nuhich  Cellini  plays. 

C  292  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

the  bargee:  "On  with  you,  on  with  you,  as  quick  as 
you  can ! "  and  never  thought  himself  quite  safe  un- 
til we  reached  the  gates  of  Florence. 

When  we  arrived  there,  Tribolo  said :  "  Let  us  bind 
our  swords  up,  for  the  love  of  God ;  and  play  me  no 
more  of  your  games,  I  beg;  for  all  this  while  I've 
felt  as  though  my  guts  were  in  the  saucepan/'  I 
made  answer:  "Gossip  Tribolo,  you  need  not  tie 
your  sword  up,  for  you  have  never  loosed  it;"  and 
this  I  said  at  random,  because  I  never  once  had  seen 
him  a6l  the  man  upon  that  journey.  When  he  heard 
the  remark,  he  looked  at  his  sword  and  cried  out: 
"  In  God's  name,  you  speak  true !  Here  it  is  tied,  just 
as  I  arranged  it  before  I  left  my  house."  My  gossip 
deemed  that  I  had  been  a  bad  travelling  companion 
to  him, because  I  resented  affronts  and  defended  my- 
self against  folk  who  would  have  done  us  injury.  But 
I  deemed  that  he  had  a6led  a  far  worse  part  with 
regard  to  me  by  never  coming  to  my  assistance  at 
such  pinches.  Let  him  judge  between  us  who  stands 
by  and  has  no  personal  interest  in  our  adventures. 

LXXX 

No  sooner  had  I  dismounted  than  I  went  to  visit 
Duke  Alessandro,  and  thanked  him  greatly  for  his 
present  of  the  fifty  crowns,  celling  his  Excellency 
that  I  was  always  ready  to  serve  him  according  to 
my  abilities.  He  gave  me  orders  at  once  to  strike 
dies  for  his  coinage ;  and  the  first  I  made  was  a  piece 
of  forty  soldi,  with  the  Duke's  head  on  one  side  and 
San  Cosimo  and  San  Damiano  on  the  other.1  This 

1  These  'were  the  special  patrons  of  the  Medicean  family,  being  physician-saints. 

[   293 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

was  in  silver,  and  it  gave  so  much  satisfaction  that 
the  Duke  did  not  hesitate  to  say  they  were  the  best 
pieces  of  money  in  Christendom.  The  same  said  all 
Florence  and  every  one  who  saw  them.  Conse- 
quently I  asked  his  Excellency  to  make  me  appoint- 
ments,1 and  to  grant  me  the  lodgings  of  the  Mint. 
He  bade  me  remain  in  his  service,  and  promised  he 
would  give  me  more  than  I  demanded.  Meanwhile 
he  said  he  had  commissioned  the  Master  of  the  Mint, 
a  certain  Carlo  Acciaiuoli,  and  that  I  might  go  to  him 
for  all  the  money  that  I  wanted.  This  I  found  to  be 
true ;  but  I  drew  my  moneys  so  discreetly,  that  I  had 
always  something  to  my  credit,  according  to  my  ac- 
count. 

I  then  made  dies  for  a  giulio,3  it  had  San  Giovanni 
in  profile,  seated  with  a  book  in  his  hand,  finer  in 
my  judgment  than  anything  which  I  had  done ;  and 
on  the  other  side  were  the  armorial  bearings  of  Duke 
Alessandro.  Next  I  made  dies  for  half-giulios,  on 
which  I  struck  the  full  face  of  San  Giovanni  in  small. 
This  was  the  first  coin  with  a  head  in  full  face  on 
so  thin  a  piece  of  silver  that  had  yet  been  seen.  The 
difficulty  of  executing  it  is  apparent  only  to  the  eyes 
of  such  as  are  past-masters  in  these  crafts.  After- 
wards I  made  dies  for  the  golden  crowns ;  this  crown 
had  a  cross  upon  one  side  with  some  little  cherubim , 
and  on  the  other  side  his  Excellency's  arms. 

When  I  had  struck  these  four  sorts,  I  begged  the 
Duke  to  make  out  my  appointments  and  to  assign  me 

1  Che  mifermassi  unapr<n><visione. 

2  The  giulio  was  a  coin  of  $6  Italian  centimes  or  8  Tuscan  crazie,  which  in  Flor- 
ence ivas  also  called  barile  or  gabellotto,  because  the  sum  had  to  be  paid  as  duty  on 
a  barrel  of  wine. 

L 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

the  lodgings  I  have  mentioned,  if  he  was  contented 
with  my  service.  He  told  me  very  graciously  that  he 
was  quite  satisfied,  and  that  he  would  grant  me  my 
request.  While  we  were  thus  talking,  his  Excellency 
was  in  his  wardrobe,  looking  at  a  remarkable  little 
gun  that  had  been  sent  him  out  of  Germany.1  When 
he  noticed  that  I  too  paid  particular  attention  to  this 
pretty  instrument,  he  put  it  in  my  hands,  saying  that 
he  knew  how  much  pleasure  I  took  in  such  things, 
and  adding  that  I  might  choose  for  earnest  of  his 
promises  an  arquebuse  to  my  own  liking  from  the 
armoury,  excepting  only  this  one  piece;  he  was  well 
aware  that  I  should  find  things  of  greater  beauty, 
and  not  less  excellent,  there.  Upon  this  invitation, 
I  accepted  with  thanks ;  and  when  he  saw  me  look- 
ing round,  he  ordered  his  Master  of  the  Wardrobe, 
a  certain  Pretino  of  Lucca,  to  let  me  take  whatever 
I  liked.2  Then  he  went  awray  with  the  most  pleasant 
words  at  parting,  while  I  remained,  and  chose  the 
finest  and  best  arquebuse  I  ever  saw,  or  ever  had, 
and  took  it  back  with  me  to  home. 

Two  days  afterward  I  brought  some  drawings 
which  his  Excellency  had  commissioned  for  gold- 
work  he  wanted  to  give  his  wife,  who  was  at  that 
time  still  in  Naples.3  I  again  asked  him  to  settle  my 
affairs.  Then  his  Excellency  told  me  that  he  should 
like  me  first  to  execute  the  die  of  his  portrait  in  fine 
style,  as  I  had  done  for  Pope  Clement.  I  began  it  in 
wax ;  and  the  Duke  gave  orders,  while  I  was  at  work 

1  See  above,  p.  240,  ./or  the  right  meaning  of  'wardrobe. 

*  Mesier  Francesco  of  Lucca,  surnamed  II  Pretino. 

3  Margaret  of  Austria,  natural  daughter  to  Charles  V.,  'was  eventually  married  in 

1536  to  Alessandro  de  Medici. 

[  295  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

upon  it,  that  whenever  I  went  to  take  his  portrait, 
I  should  be  admitted.  Perceiving  that  I  had  a  lengthy 
piece  of  business  on  my  hands,  I  sent  for  a  certain 
Pietro  Pagolo  from  Monte  Ritondo,  in  the  Roman 
district,  who  had  been  with  me  from  his  boyhood  in 
Rome.1 1  found  him  with  one  Bernardonaccio,2a  gold- 
smith, who  did  not  treat  him  well;  so  I  brought  him 
away  from  there,  and  taught  him  minutely  how  to 
strike  coins  from  those  dies.  Meanwhile,  I  went  on 
making  the  Duke's  portrait;  and  oftentimes  I  found 
him  napping  after  dinner  with  that  Lorenzino  of  his, 
who  afterwards  murdered  him,  and  no  other  com- 
pany ;  and  much  I  marvelled  that  a  Duke  of  that  sort 
showed  such  confidence  about  his  safety.3 

LXXXI 

It  happened  at  this  time  that  Ottaviano  de'  Medici,4 
who  to  all  appearances  had  got  the  government 
of  everything  in  his  own  hands,  favoured  the  old 
Master  of  the  Mint  against  the  Duke's  will.  This 
man  was  called  Bastiano  Cennini,  an  artist  of  the  an- 
tiquated school,  and  of  little  skill  in  his  craft.5  Otta- 
viano mixed  his  stupid  dies  with  mine  in  the  coinage 
of  crown-pieces.  I  complained  of  this  to  the  Duke, 

1  Pietro  Pagolo  Galleotti,  much  praised  by  Vasarifor  his  artistic  skill. 
1  Perhaps  Bernardo  Sabatini. 

3  This  is  the  famous  Tuscan  Brutus  <who  murdered  Alessandro.  He  'was  descended 
from  Lorenzo  de*  Medici,  the  brother  of  Cosimo,  Pater  Patria,  and  the  uncle  of 
Lorenzo  the  Magnificent. 

4  This  Ottawiano  'was  not  descended  from  either  Cosimo  or  Lorenzo  de*  Medici,  but 
from  an  elder,  though  less  illustrious,  branch  of  the  great  family.  He  married 
Francesco  Salviati,  the  aunt  of  Duke  Cosimo.  Though  a  great  patron  of  the  arts 
and  an  intimate  friend  of  M.  A.  Buonarroti,  he  cwas  not  popular,  ofwing  to  his 
pride  of  place. 

*  Cellini  praises  this  man,  honuever,  in  the  preface  to  the  Oreficeria. 

i  296  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

who,  when  he  saw  how  the  matter  stood,  took  it 
very  ill,  and  said  to  me:  "Go,  tell  this  to  Ottaviano 
de'  Medici,  and  show  him  how  it  is/'1 1  lost  no  time; 
and  when  I  had  pointed  out  the  injury  that  had  been 
done  to  my  fine  coins,  he  answered,  like  the  donkey 
that  he  was:  "We  choose  to  have  it  so."  I  replied 
that  it  ought  not  to  be  so,  and  that  I  did  not  choose 
to  have  it  so.  He  said :  "  And  if  the  Duke  likes  to 
have  it  so?"  I  answered:  "It  would  not  suit  me,  for 
the  thing  is  neither  just  nor  reasonable."  He  told 
me  to  take  myself  off,  and  that  I  should  have  to 
swallow  it  in  this  way,  even  if  I  burst.  Then  I  re- 
turned to  the  Duke,  and  related  the  whole  unplea- 
sant conversation  between  Ottaviano  de'  Medici  and 
me,  entreating  his  Excellency  not  to  allow  the  fine 
coins  which  I  had  made  for  him  to  be  spoiled,  and 
begging  for  permission  to  leave  Florence.  He  re- 
plied: "Ottaviano  is  too  presuming:  you  shall  have 
what  you  want;  for  this  is  an  injury  offered  to  my- 
self."' 

That  very  day,  which  was  a  Thursday,  I  received 
from  Rome  a  full  safe-condu6l  from  the  Pope,  with 
advice  to  go  there  at  once  and  get  the  pardon  of 
Our  Lady's  feast  in  mid- August,  in  order  that  I 
might  clear  myself  from  the  penalties  attaching  to 
my  homicide.  I  went  to  the  Duke,  whom  I  found  in 
bed,  for  they  told  me  he  was  suffering  the  conse- 
quence of  a  debauch.  In  little  more  than  two  hours 
I  finished  what  was  wanted  for  his  waxen  medal; 
and  when  I  showed  it  him,  it  pleased  him  extremely. 
Then  I  exhibited  the  safe-condu6l  sent  me  at  the 

1  Mostragnene,  This  is  perhaps  equivalent  to  mostragliek. 

[  297  j 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

order  of  the  Pope,  and  told  him  how  his  Holiness 
had  recalled  me  to  execute  certain  pieces  of  work ; 
on  this  account  I  should  like  to  regain  my  footing 
in  the  fair  city  of  Rome,  which  would  not  prevent 
my  attending  to  his  medal.  The  Duke  made  answer 
half  in  anger:  "Benvenuto,  do  as  I  desire:  stay  here; 
I  will  provide  for  your  appointments,  and  will  give 
you  the  lodgings  in  the  Mint,  with  much  more  than 
you  could  ask  for,  because  your  requests  are  only 
just  and  reasonable.  And  who  do  you  think  will  be 
able  to  strike  the  beautiful  dies  which  you  have  made 
for  me?"  Then  I  said:  "My  Lord,  I  have  thought 
of  everything,  for  I  have  here  a  pupil  of  mine,  a 
young  Roman  whom  I  have  taught  the  art;  he  will 
serve  your  Excellency  very  well  till  I  return  with 
your  medal  finished,  to  remain  forever  in  your  ser- 
vice. I  have  in  Rome  a  shop  open,  with  journeymen 
and  a  pretty  business ;  as  soon  as  I  have  got  my  par- 
don, I  will  leave  all  the  devotion  of  Rome1  to  a  pupil 
of  mine  there,  and  will  come  back,  with  your  Ex- 
cellency's good  permission,  to  you."  During  this 
conversation,  the  Lorenzino  de'  Medici  whom  I  have 
above  mentioned  was  present,  and  no  one  else.  The 
Duke  frequently  signed  to  him  that  he  should  join 
in  pressing  me  to  stay;  but  Lorenzino  never  said 
anything  except:  "Benvenuto,  you  would  do  better 
to  remain  where  you  are."  I  answered  that  I  wanted 
by  all  means  to  regain  my  hold  on  Rome.  He  made 
no  reply,  but  continued  eyeing  the  Duke  with  very 

1  Tutta  la  divozione  di  Roma.  It  is  not  'very  clear  <what  this  exactly  means.  Per- 
haps "all  the  affeflion  and  reverence  I  have  for  the  city  of  Rome^  or  merely  "all 
my  ties  in  Rome." 

C  298  i 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

evil  glances.  When  I  had  finished  the  medal  to  my 
liking,  and  shut  it  in  its  little  box,  I  said  to  the  Duke : 
"My  lord,  pray  let  me  have  your  good-will,  for  I 
will  make  you  a  much  finer  medal  than  the  one  I 
made  for  Pope  Clement.  It  is  only  reasonable  that 
I  should,  since  that  was  the  first  I  ever  made.  Messer 
Lorenzo  here  will  give  me  some  exquisite  reverse, 
as  he  is  a  person  learned  and  of  the  greatest  genius." 
To  these  words  Lorenzo  suddenly  made  answer: 
"  I  have  been  thinking  of  nothing  else  but  how  to 
give  you  a  reverse  worthy  of  his  Excellency/'  The 
Duke  laughed  a  little,  and  looking  at  Lorenzo,  said : 
"  Lorenzo,  you  shall  give  him  the  reverse,  and  he 
shall  do  it  here  and  shall  not  go  away."  Lorenzo 
took  him  up  at  once,  saying:  "I  will  do  it  as  quickly 
as  I  can,  and  I  hope  to  do  something  that  shall  make 
the  whole  world  wonder."  The  Duke,  who  held  him 
sometimes  for  a  fool  and  sometimes  for  a  coward, 
turned  about  in  bed,  and  laughed  at  his  bragging 
words.  I  took  my  leave  without  further  ceremony, 
and  left  them  alone  together.  The  Duke,  who  did 
not  believe  that  I  was  really  going,  said  nothing 
further.  Afterwards,  when  he  knew  that  I  was  gone, 
he  sent  one  of  his  servants,  who  caught  me  up  at 
Siena,  and  gave  me  fifty  golden  ducats  with  a  mes- 
sage from  the  Duke  that  I  should  take  and  use  them 
for  his  sake,  and  should  return  as  soon  as  possible ; 
"  and  from  Messer  Lorenzo  I  have  to  tell  you  that 
he  is  preparing  an  admirable  reverse  for  that  medal 
which  you  want  to  make."  I  had  left  full  directions 
to  Petro  Pagolo,  the  Roman  above  mentioned,  how 
he  had  to  use  the  dies ;  but  as  it  was  a  very  delicate 

[   299  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

affair,  he  never  quite  succeeded  in  employing  them. 
I  remained  creditor  to  the  Mint  in  a  matter  of  more 
than  seventy  crowns  on  account  of  dies  supplied 
by  me. 

LXXXII 

On  the  journey  to  Rome  I  carried  with  me  that  hand- 
some  arquebuse  which  the  Duke  gave  me ;  and  very 
much  to  my  own  pleasure,  I  used  it  several  times 
by  the  way,  performing  incredible  feats  by  means 
of  it.  The  little  house  I  had  in  Strada  Giulia  was  not 
ready;  so  I  dismounted  at  the  house  of  Messer  Gio- 
vanni Gaddi,  clerk  of  the  Camera,  to  whose  keeping 
I  had  committed,  on  leaving  Rome,  many  of  my  arms 
and  other  things  I  cared  for.  So  I  did  not  choose  to 
alight  at  my  shop,  but  sent  for  Felice,  my  partner, 
and  got  him  to  put  my  little  dwelling  forthwith  into 
excellent  order.  The  day  following,  I  went  to  sleep 
there,  after  well  providing  myself  with  clothes  and 
all  things  requisite,  since  I  intended  to  go  and  thank 
the  Pope  next  morning. 

I  had  two  young  serving-lads,  and  beneath  my 
lodgings  lived  a  laundress  who  cooked  extremely 
nicely  for  me.  That  evening  I  entertained  several 
friends  at  supper,  and  having  passed  the  time  with 
great  enjoyment,  betook  myself  to  bed.  The  night 
had  hardly  ended,  indeed  it  was  more  than  an  hour 
before  daybreak,  when  I  heard  a  furious  knocking 
at  the  house-door,  stroke  succeeding  stroke  without 
a  moment's  pause.  Accordingly  I  called  my  elder 
servant,  Cencio '  ( he  was  the  man  I  took  into  the  nec- 

1  /.  e.,  Vincenxio  Romoli. 

C   300  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

romantic  circle ) ,  and  bade  him  go  and  see  who  the 
madman  was  that  knocked  so  brutally  at  that  hour 
of  the  night.  While  Cencio  was  on  this  errand,  I 
lighted  another  lamp,  for  I  always  keep  one  by  me 
at  night ;  then  I  made  haste  to  pass  an  excellent  coat 
of  mail  over  my  shirt,  and  above  that  some  clothes 
which  I  caught  up  at  random.  Cencio  returned,  ex- 
claiming: "Heavens,  master!  it  is  the  Bargello  and 
all  his  guard ;  and  he  says  that  if  you  do  not  open 
at  once,  he  will  knock  the  door  down.  They  have 
torches,  and  a  thousand  things  besides  with  them ! "  I 
answered : "  Tell  them  that  I  am  huddling  my  clothes 
on,  and  will  come  out  to  them  in  my  shirt."  Supposing 
it  was  a  trap  laid  to  murder  me,  as  had  before  been 
done  by  Signor  Pier  Luigi,  I  seized  an  excellent  dag- 
ger with  my  right  hand,  and  with  the  left  I  took  the 
safe-condu6l ;  then  I  ran  to  the  back-window,  which 
looked  out  on  gardens,  and  there  I  saw  more  than 
thirty  constables ;  wherefore  I  knew  that  I  could  not 
escape  upon  that  side.  I  made  the  two  lads  go  in 
front,  and  told  them  to  open  the  door  exactly  when 
I  gave  the  word  to  do  so.  Then  taking  up  an  atti- 
tude of  defence,  with  the  dagger  in  my  right  hand 
and  the  safe-conducl  in  my  left,  I  cried  to  the  lads : 
"  Have  no  fear,  but  open ! "  The  Bargello,  Vittorio, 
and  the  officers  sprang  inside  at  once,  thinking  they 
could  easily  lay  hands  upon  me ;  but  when  they  saw 
me  prepared  in  that  way  to  receive  them,  they  fell 
back,  exclaiming:  "We  have  a  serious  job  on  hand 
here! "Then  I  threw  the  safe-condu6l  to  them,  and 
said:  "Read  that!  and  since  you  cannot  seize  me, 
I  do  not  mean  that  you  shall  touch  me."  The  Bar- 

C  301   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

gello  upon  this  ordered  some  of  his  men  to  arrest 
me,  saying  he  would  look  to  the  safe-condu<5l  later. 
Thereat  I  presented  my  arms  boldly,  calling  aloud: 
"Let  God  defend  the  right!  Either  I  shall  escape 
your  hands  alive,  or  be  taken  a  dead  corpse!"  The 
room  was  crammed  with  men ;  they  made  as  though 
they  would  resort  to  violence;  I  stood  upon  my  guard 
against  them ;  so  that  the  Bargello  saw  he  would  not 
be  able  to  have  me  except  in  the  way  I  said.  Accord- 
ingly he  called  his  clerk,  and  while  the  safe-conduct 
was  being  read,  he  showed  by  signs  two  or  three 
times  that  he  meant  to  have  me  secured  by  his  offi- 
cers; but  this  had  no  effect  of  shaking  my  determi- 
nation. At  last  they  gave  up  the  attempt,  threw  my 
safe-conduct  on  the  ground,  and  went  away  without 
their  prize. 

LXXXIII 

When  I  returned  to  bed,  I  felt  so  agitated  that  I 
could  not  get  to  sleep  again.  My  mind  was  made  up 
to  let  blood  as  soon  as  day  broke.  However,  I  asked 
advice  of  Messer  Gaddi ,  and  he  referred  to  a  wretched 
doctor-fellow  he  employed,1  who  asked  me  if  I  had 
been  frightened.  Now,  just  consider  what  a  judicious 
doctor  this  was,  after  I  had  narrated  an  occurrence 
of  that  gravity,  to  ask  me  such  a  question!  He  was 
an  empty  fribbler,  who  kept  perpetually  laughing 
about  nothing  at  all.  Simpering  and  sniggering,  then, 
he  bade  me  drink  a  good  cup  of  Greek  wine,  keep 
my  spirits  up,  and  not  be  frightened.  Messer  Gio- 
vanni, however,  said:  "  Master,  a  man  of  bronze  or 

1  Possibly  Bernardino  Lilii  of  Todi. 

C    302    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

marble  might  be  frightened  in  such  circumstances. 
How  much  more  one  of  flesh  and  blood ! "  The  quack 
responded:  "Monsignor,  we  are  not  all  made  after 
the  same  pattern;  this  fellow  is  no  man  of  bronze  or 
marble,  but  of  pure  iron/'  Then  he  gave  one  of  his 
meaningless  laughs,  and  putting  his  fingers  on  my 
wrist,  said:  "  Feel  here ;  this  is  not  a  man's  pulse,  but 
a  lion's  or  a  dragon's."  At  this,  I,  whose  blood  was 
thumping  in  my  veins,  probably  far  beyond  anything 
which  that  fool  of  a  do6lor  had  learned  from  his  Hip- 
pocrates or  Galen,  knew  at  once  how  serious  was  my 
situation ;  yet,  wishing  not  to  add  to  my  uneasiness 
and  to  the  harm  I  had  already  taken,  I  made  show  of 
being  in  good  spirits.  While  this  was  happening,  Mes- 
ser  Giovanni  had  ordered  dinner,  and  we  all  of  us  sat 
down  to  eat  in  company.  I  remembered  that  Messer 
Lodovico  da  Fano,  Messer  Antonio  Allegretti,  Mes- 
ser Giovanni  Greco,  all  of  them  men  of  the  finest 
scholarship,  and  Messer  Annibal  Caro,  who  was  then 
quite  young,  were  present.  At  table  the  conversation 
turned  entirely  upon  my  a6l  of  daring.  They  insisted 
on  hearing  the  whole  story  over  and  over  again  from 
my  apprentice  Cencio,  who  was  a  youth  of  superla- 
tive talent,  bravery,  and  extreme  personal  beauty. 
Each  time  that  he  described  my  truculent  behaviour, 
throwing  himself  into  the  attitudes  I  had  assumed,  and 
repeating  the  words  which  I  had  used,  he  called  up 
some  fresh  detail  to  my  memory.  They  kept  asking 
him  if  he  had  been  afraid ;  to  which  he  answered  that 
they  ought  to  ask  me  if  I  had  been  afraid,  because  he 
felt  precisely  the  same  as  I  had. 
All  this  chattering  grew  irksome  to  me;  and  since 

303 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

I  still  felt  strongly  agitated,  I  rose  at  last  from  table, 
saying  that  I  wanted  to  go  and  get  new  clothes  of 
blue  silk  and  stuff  for  him  and  me ;  adding  that  I 
meant  to  walk  in  procession  after  four  days  at  the 
feast  of  Our  Lady,  and  meant  Cencio  to  carry  a  white 
lighted  torch  on  the  occasion.  Accordingly  I  took 
my  leave,  and  had  the  blue  cloth  cut,  together  with 
a  handsome  jacket  of  blue  sarcenet  and  a  little  doub- 
let of  the  same;  and  I  had  a  similar  jacket  and  waist- 
coat made  for  Cencio. 

When  these  things  had  been  cut  out,  I  went  to  see 
the  Pope,  who  told  me  to  speak  with  Messer  Am- 
bruogio ;  for  he  had  given  orders  that  I  should  exe- 
cute a  large  piece  of  golden  plate.  So  I  went  to  find 
Messer  Ambruogio,  who  had  heard  the  whole  of 
the  affair  of  the  Bargello,  and  had  been  in  concert 
with  my  enemies  to  bring  me  back  to  Rome,  and  had 
scolded  the  Bargello  for  not  laying  hands  on  me. 
The  man  excused  himself  by  saying  that  he  could 
not  do  so  in  the  face  of  the  safe-condu6l  which  I 
held.  Messer  Ambruogio  now  began  to  talk  about 
the  Pope's  commission,  and  bade  me  make  draw- 
ings for  it,  saying  that  the  business  should  be  put  at 
once  in  train.  Meanwhile  the  feast  of  Our  Lady  came 
round.  Now  it  is  the  custom  for  those  who  get  a 
pardon  upon  this  occasion  to  give  themselves  up  to 
prison ;  in  order  to  avoid  doing  which  I  returned  to 
the  Pope,  and  told  his  Holiness  that  I  was  very  un- 
willing to  go  to  prison,  and  that  I  begged  him  to 
grant  me  the  favour  of  a  dispensation.  The  Pope 
answered  that  such  was  the  custom,  and  that  I  must 
follow  it.  Thereupon  I  fell  again  upon  my  knees,  and 

304 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

thanked  him  for  the  safe-condu6l  he  had  given  me, 
saying  at  the  same  time  that  I  should  go  back  with 
it  to  serve  my  Duke  in  Florence,  who  was  waiting 
for  me  so  impatiently.  On  hearing  this,  the  Pope 
turned  to  one  of  his  confidential  servants  and  said : 
"Let  Benvenuto  get  his  grace  without  the  prison, 
and  see  that  his  moto  proprio  is  made  out  in  due 
form."  As  soon  as  the  document  had  been  drawn  up, 
his  Holiness  signed  it;  it  was  then  registered  at  the 
Capitol ;  afterwards,  upon  the  day  appointed,  I  walked 
in  procession  very  honourably  between  two  gentle- 
men, and  so  got  clear  at  last. 

LXXXIV 

Four  days  had  passed  when  I  was  attacked  with 
violent  fever  attended,  by  extreme  cold ;  and  taking 
to  my  bed,  I  made  my  mind  up  that  I  was  sure  to 
die.  I  had  the  first  dodtors  of  Rome  called  in,  among 
whom  was  Francesco  da  Norcia,  a  physician  of  great 
age,  and  of  the  best  repute  in  Rome.1  I  told  them 
what  I  believed  to  be  the  cause  of  my  illness,  and 
said  that  I  had  wished  to  let  blood,  but  that  I  had 
been  advised  against  it;  and  if  it  was  not  too  late,  I 
begged  them  to  bleed  me  now.  Maestro  Francesco 
answered  that  it  would  not  be  well  for  me  to  let 
blood  then,  but  that  if  I  had  done  so  before,  I  should 
have  escaped  without  mischief;  at  present  they  would 
have  to  treat  the  case  with  other  remedies.  So  they 
began  to  doclor  me  as  energetically  as  they  were 
able,  while  I  grew  daily  worse  and  worse  so  rapidly, 
that  after  eight  days  the  physicians  despaired  of  my 

1  Francesco  Fusconi,  physician  to  Popes  Adrian  PL,  Clement  fll.,  and  Paul  III. 

C  305 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

life,  and  said  that  I  might  be  indulged  in  any  whim 
I  had  to  make  me  comfortable.  Maestro  Francesco 
added:  "As  long  as  there  is  breath  in  him, call  me 
at  all  hours ;  for  no  one  can  divine  what  Nature  is 
able  to  work  in  a  young  man  of  this  kind ;  moreover, 
if  he  should  lose  consciousness,  administer  these  five 
remedies  one  after  the  other,  and  send  for  me,  for  I 
will  come  at  any  hour  of  the  night;  I  would  rather 
save  him  than  any  of  the  cardinals  in  Rome/' 

Every  day  Messer  Giovanni  Gaddi  came  to  see  me 
two  or  three  times,  and  each  time  he  took  up  one  or 
other  of  my  handsome  fowling-pieces,  coats  of,  mail, 
or  swords,  using  words  like  these:  "That  is  a  hand- 
some thing,  that  other  is  still  handsomer;"  and  like- 
wise with  my  models  and  other  trifles,  so  that  at  last 
he  drove  me  wild  with  annoyance.  In  his  company 
came  a  certain  Mattio  Franzesi ; x  and  this  man  also 
appeared  to  be  waiting  impatiently  for  my  death,  not 
indeed  because  he  would  inherit  anything  from  me, 
but  because  he  wished  for  what  his  master  seemed 
to  have  so  much  at  heart. 

Felice,  my  partner,  was  always  at  my  side,  ren- 
dering the  greatest  services  which  it  is  possible  for 
one  man  to  give  another.  Nature  in  me  was  utterly 
debilitated  and  undone;  I  had  not  strength  enough 
to  fetch  my  breath  back  if  it  left  me;  and  yet  my 
brain  remained  as  clear  and  strong  as  it  had  been 
before  my  illness.  Nevertheless,  although  I  kept  my 
consciousness,  a  terrible  old  man  used  to  come  to  my 
bedside,  and  make  as  though  he  would  drag  me  by 

1  Franzesi  'was  a  clever  Italian  poet.  His  burlesque  Capitoli  are  printed  'with  those 
of  Berni  and  others. 

[  306  J 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

force  into  a  huge  boat  he  had  with  him.  This  made 
me  call  out  to  my  Felice  to  draw  near  and  chase 
that  malignant  old  man  away.  Felice,  who  loved  me 
most  affectionately,  ran  weeping  and  crying:  "Away 
with  you,  old  traitor ;  you  are  robbing  me  of  all  the 
good  I  have  in  this  world/'  Messer  Giovanni  Gaddi, 
who  was  present,  then  began  to  say : "  The  poor  fel- 
low is  delirious,  and  has  only  a  few  hours  to  live." 
His  fellow, Mattio  Franzesi, remarked : "  He  has  read 
Dante,  and  in  the  prostration  of  his  sickness  this  ap- 
parition has  appeared  to  him ;" '  then  he  added  laugh- 
ingly: "Away  with  you,  old  rascal,  and  don't  bother 
our  friend  Benvenuto."  When  I  saw  that  they  were 
making  fun  of  me,  I  turned  to  Messer  Gaddi  and 
said:  "My  dear  master,  know  that  I  am  not  raving, 
and  that  it  is  true  that  this  old  man  is  really  giving 
me  annoyance ;  but  the  best  that  you  can  do  for  me 
would  be  to  drive  that  miserable  Mattio  from  my 
side,  who  is  laughing  at  my  affliction ;"  afterwards  if 
your  lordship  deigns  to  visit  me  again,  let  me  beg 
you  to  come  with  Messer  Antonio  Allegretti,  or  with 
Messer  Annibal  Caro,  or  with  some  other  of  your 
accomplished  friends,  who  are  persons  of  quite  dif- 
ferent intelligence  and  discretion  from  that  beast." 
Thereupon  Messer  Giovanni  told  Mattio  in  jest  to 
take  himself  out  of  his  sight  forever;  but  because 
Mattio  went  on  laughing,  the  joke  turned  to  earnest, 
for  Messer  Giovanni  would  not  look  upon  him  again, 
but  sent  for  Messer  Antonio  Allegretti,  Messer  Lu- 
dovico,  and  Messer  Annibal  Caro.  On  the  arrival  of 
these  worthy  men,  I  was  greatly  comforted,  and 

1  Inferno,  Hi.,  the  verses  about  Charon. 

C  307  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

talked  reasonably  with  them  awhile,  not  however 
without  frequently  urging  Felice  to  drive  the  old 
man  away.  Messer  Ludovico  asked  me  what  it  was  I 
seemed  to  see,  and  how  the  man  was  shaped.  While 
I  portrayed  him  accurately  in  words,  the  old  man  took 
me  by  the  arm  and  dragged  me  violently  towards  him. 
This  made  me  cry  out  for  aid,  because  he  was  going 
to  fling  me  under  hatches  in  his  hideous  boat.  On 
saying  that  last  word,  I  fell  into  a  terrible  swoon, 
and  seemed  to  be  sinking  down  into  the  boat.  They 
say  that  during  that  fainting-fit  I  flung  myself  about 
and  cast  bad  words  at  Messer  Giovanni  Gaddi,  to 
wit,  that  he  came  to  rob  me,  and  not  from  any  mo- 
tive of  charity,  and  other  insults  of  the  kind,  which 
caused  him  to  be  much  ashamed.  Later  on,  they  say 
I  lay  still  like  one  dead ;  and  after  waiting  by  me  more 
than  an  hour,  thinking  I  was  growing  cold,  they  left 
me  for  dead.  When  they  returned  home,  Mattio 
Franzesi  was  informed,  who  wrote  to  Florence  to 
Messer  Benedetto  Varchi,my  very  dear  friend,  that 
they  had  seen  me  die  at  such  and  such  an  hour  of 
the  night.  When  he  heard  the  news,  that  most  ac- 
complished man  and  my  dear  friend  composed  an 
admirable  sonnet  upon  my  supposed  but  not  real 
death,  which  shall  be  reported  in  its  proper  place. 
More  than  three  long  hours  passed,  and  yet  I  did 
not  regain  consciousness.  Felice  having  used  all  the 
remedies  prescribed  by  Maestro  Francesco,  and  see- 
ing that  I  did  not  come  to,  ran  post-haste  to  the 
physician's  door,  and  knocked  so  loudly  that  he  woke 
him  up,  and  made  him  rise,  and  begged  him  with 
tears  to  come  to  the  house,  for  he  thought  that  I  was 

C  308  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

dead.  Whereto  Maestro  Francesco,  who  was  a  very 
choleric  man,  replied :  "  My  son,  of  what  use  do  you 
think  I  should  be  if  I  came?  If  he  is  dead,  I  am  more 
sorry  than  you  are.  Do  you  imagine  that  if  I  were 
to  come  with  my  medicine  I  could  blow  breath  up 
through  his  guts'  and  bring  him  back  to  life  for  you?" 
But  when  he  saw  that  the  poor  young  fellow  was 
going  away  weeping,  he  called  him  back  and  gave 
him  an  oil  with  which  to  anoint  my  pulses  and  my 
heart,  telling  him  to  pinch  my  little  fingers  and  toes 
very  tightly,  and  to  send  at  once  to  call  him  if  I 
should  revive.  Felice  took  his  way,  and  did  as  Maes- 
tro Francesco  had  ordered.  It  was  almost  bright  day 
when,  thinking  they  would  have  to  abandon  hope, 
they  gave  orders  to  have  my  shroud  made  and  to 
wash  me.  Suddenly  I  regained  consciousness,  and 
called  out  to  Felice  to  drive  away  the  old  man  on 
the  moment,  who  kept  tormenting  me.  He  wanted 
to  send  for  Maestro  Francesco,  but  I  told  him  not 
to  do  so,  but  to  come  close  up  to  me,  because  that 
old  man  was  afraid  of  him  and  went  away  at  once. 
So  Felice  drew  near  to  the  bed  ;  I  touched  him,  and 
it  seemed  to  me  that  the  infuriated  old  man  with- 
drew; so  I  prayed  him  not  to  leave  me  for  a  second. 
When  Maestro  Francesco  appeared,  he  said  it  was 
his  dearest  wish  to  save  my  life,  and  that  he  had 
never  in  all  his  days  seen  greater  force  in  a  young 
man  than  I  had.  Then  he  sat  down  to  write,  and  pre- 
scribed for  me  perfumes,  lotions,  unctions,  plasters, 
and  a  heap  of  other  precious  things.  Meanwhile  I 
came  to  life  again  by  the  means  of  more  than  twenty 

*  Io  gli  fossa  soffiare  in  culo. 

[    309    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

leeches  applied  to  my  buttocks,  but  with  my  body 
bored  through,  bound,  and  ground  to  powder.  Many 
of  my  friends  crowded  in  to  behold  the  miracle  of 
the  resuscitated  dead  man,  and  among  them  people 
of  the  first  importance. 

In  their  presence  I  declared  that  the  small  amount 
of  gold  and  money  I  possessed,  perhaps  some  eight 
hundred  crowns,  what  with  gold,  silver,  jewels,  and 
cash,  should  be  given  by  my  will  to  my  poor  sister 
in  Florence,  called  Mona  Liperata;  all  the  remainder 
of  my  property,  armour  and  everything  besides,  I 
left  to  my  dearest  Felice,  together  with  fifty  golden 
ducats,  in  order  that  he  might  buy  mourning.  At 
those  words  Felice  flung  his  arms  around  my  neck, 
protesting  that  he  wanted  nothing  but  to  have  me 
as  he  wished  alive  with  him.  Then  I  said:  "If  you 
want  me  alive,  touch  me  as  you  did  before,  and 
threaten  the  old  man,  for  he  is  afraid  of  you."  At 
these  words  some  of  the  folk  were  terrified,  know- 
ing that  I  was  not  raving,  but  talking  to  the  purpose 
and  with  all  my  wits.  Thus  my  wretched  malady 
went  dragging  on,  and  I  got  but  little  better.  Maes- 
tro Francesco,  that  most  excellent  man,  came  four 
or  five  times  a  day ;  Messer  Giovanni  Gaddi,  who 
felt  ashamed,  did  not  visit  me  again.  My  brother-in- 
law,  the  husband  of  my  sister,  arrived ;  he  came  from 
Florence  for  the  inheritance;  but  as  he  was  a  very 
worthy  man,  he  rejoiced  exceedingly  to  have  found 
me  alive.  The  sight  of  him  did  me  a  world  of  good, 
and  he  began  to  caress  me  at  once,  saying  he  had 
only  come  to  take  care  of  me  in*person ;  and  this  he 
did  for  several  days.  Afterwards  I  sent  him  away, 

[  310 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

having  almost  certain  hope  of  my  recovery.  On  this 
occasion  he  left  the  sonnet  of  Messer  Benedetto 
Varchi,  which  runs  as  follows :  * 

"  Who  shall,  Mattio,  yield  our  -pain  relief? 
Who  shall  forbid  the  sad  expense  of  tears? 
Alas!  'tis  true  that  in  his  youthful  years 
Our  friend  hath  flown,  and  left  us  here  to  grief. 

He  hath  gone  up  to  heaven,  who  was  the  chief 
Of  men  renowned  in  art's  immortal  spheres; 
Among  the  mighty  dead  he  had  no  peersy 

Nor  shall  earth  see  his  like,  in  my  belief. 

O  gentle  sprite!  if  love  still  sway  the  blest, 

Look  down  on  him  thou  here  didst  love,  and  view 
'These  tears  that  mourn  my  loss,  not  thy  great  good. 

There  dost  thou  gaze  on  His  beatitude 
Who  made  our  universe,  and  jindest  true 
'The  form  of  Him  thy  skill  for  men  expressed" 

LXXXV 

My  sickness  had  been  of  such  a  very  serious  nature 
that  it  seemed  impossible  for  me  to  fling  it  off.  That 
worthy  man  Maestro  Francesco  da  Norcia  redoubled 
his  efforts,  and  brought  me  every  day  fresh  reme- 
dies, trying  to  restore  strength  to  my  miserable  un- 
strung frame.  Yet  all  these  endeavours  were  appar- 
ently insufficient  to  overcome  the  obstinacy  of  my 

1  Thit  sonnet  is  so  insipid,  so  untrue  to  Cellini's  real  place  in  art,  so  false  to  the  far 
from  saintly  character  of  the  man,  that  I  would  rather  ha<ve  declined  translating  it, 
had  I  not  observed  it  to  be  a  good  example  of  that  technical  and  conventional  insin- 
cerity 'which  cwas  invading  Italy  at  this  epoch.  Varchi  vjas  really  sorry  to  hear  the 
nevjs  of  Cellini  s  death  j  but  for  his  genuine  emotion  he  found  spurious  vehicles  of 
utterance.  Cellini,  meanwhile,  had  a  right  to  prize  it,  since  it  revealed  to  him  vjhat 
friendship  vjas  prepared  to  utter  after  his  decease. 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

malady,  so  that  the  physicians  were  in  despair  and 
at  their  wits'  ends  what  to  do.  I  was  tormented  by 
thirst,  but  had  abstained  from  drinking  for  many 
days  according  to  the  doclors'  orders.  Felice,  who 
thought  he  had  done  wonders  in  restoring  me,  never 
left  my  side.  That  old  man  ceased  to  give  so  much 
annoyance,  yet  sometimes  he  appeared  to  me  in 
dreams. 

One  day  Felice  had  gone  out  of  doors,  leaving  me 
under  the  care  of  a  young  apprentice  and  a  servant- 
maid  called  Beatrice.  I  asked  the  apprentice  what 
had  become  of  my  lad  Cencio,  and  what  was  the  rea- 
son why  I  had  never  seen  him  in  attendance  on  me. 
The  boy  replied  that  Cencio  had  been  far  more  ill 
than  I  was,  and  that  he  was  even  at  death's  door. 
Felice  had  given  them  orders  not  to  speak  to  me  of 
this.  On  hearing  the  news,  I  was  exceedingly  dis- 
tressed; then  I  called  the  maid  Beatrice,  a  Pistojan 
girl,  and  asked  her  to  bring  me  a  great  crystal  wa- 
ter-cooler which  stood  near,  full  of  clear  and  fresh 
water.  She  ran  at  once,  and  brought  it  to  me  full;  I 
told  her  to  put  it  to  my  lips,  adding  that  if  she  let 
me  take  a  draught  according  to  my  heart's  content, 
I  would  give  her  a  new  gown.  This  maid  had  stolen 
from  me  certain  little  things  of  some  importance,  and 
in  her  fear  of  being  detected,  she  would  have  been 
very  glad  if  I  had  died.  Accordingly  she  allowed  me 
twice  to  take  as  much  as  I  could  of  the  water,  so 
that  in  good  earnest  I  swallowed  more  than  a  flask 
full.1 1  then  covered  myself,  and  began  to  sweat,  and 
fell  into  a  deep  sleep.  After  I  had  slept  about  an 

1  Un  fiasco,  holding  more  than  a  quart. 

C    312    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

hour,  Felice  came  home  and  asked  the  boy  how  I 
was  getting  on.  He  answered:  "  I  do  not  know.  Bea- 
trice brought  him  that  cooler  full  of  water,  and  he 
has  drunk  almost  the  whole  of  it.  I  don't  know  now 
whether  he  is  alive  or  dead."  They  say  that  my  poor 
friend  was  on  the  point  of  falling  to  the  ground,  so 
grieved  was  he  to  hear  this.  Afterwards  he  took  an 
ugly  stick  and  began  to  beat  the  serving-girl  with 
all  his  might,  shouting  out:  "  Ah!  traitress,  you  have 
killed  him  for  me  then  ? "  While  Felice  was  cudgel- 
ling and  she  screaming,  I  was  in  a  dream ;  I  thought 
the  old  man  held  ropes  in  his  hand,  and  while  he 
was  preparing  to  bind  me,  Felice  had  arrived  and 
struck  him  with  an  axe,  so  that  the  old  man  fled  ex- 
claiming: "Let  me  go,  and  I  promise  not  to  return 
for  a  long  while."  Beatrice  in  the  meantime  had  run 
into  my  bedroom  shrieking  loudly.  This  woke  me 
up,  and  I  called  out:  "Leave  her  alone;  perhaps, 
when  she  meant  to  do  me  harm,  she  did  me  more 
good  than  you  were  able  to  do  with  all  your  efforts. 
She  may  indeed  have  saved  my  life;  so  lend  me  a 
helping  hand,  for  I  have  sweated;  and  be  quick  about 
it."  Felice  recovered  his  spirits,  dried  and  made 
me  comfortable;  and  I,  being  conscious  of  a  great 
improvement  in  my  state,  began  to  reckon  on  re- 
covery. 

When  Maestro  Francesco  appeared  and  saw  my 
great  improvement,  and  the  servant-girl  in  tears,  and 
the  prentice  running  to  and  fro,  and  Felice  laughing, 
all  this  disturbance  made  him  think  that  something 
extraordinary  must  have  happened,  which  had  been 
the  cause  of  my  amendment.  Just  then  the  other 

C   313   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

doclor,  Bernardino,  put  in  his  appearance,  who  at 
the  beginning  of  my  illness  had  refused  to  bleed  me. 
Maestro  Francesco,  that  most  able  man,  exclaimed: 
"  Oh, power  of  Nature !  She  knows  what  she  requires, 
and  the  physicians  know  nothing."  That  simpleton, 
Maestro  Bernardino,  made  answer,  saying:  "If  he 
had  drunk  another  bottle  he  would  have  been  cured 
upon  the  spot."  Maestro  Francesco  da  Norcia,  a  man 
of  age  and  great  authority,  said:  "That  would  have 
been  a  terrible  misfortune,  and  would  to  God  that 
it  may  fall  on  you!"  Afterwards  he  turned  to  me 
and  asked  if  I  could  have  drunk  more  water.  I  an- 
swered: "No,  because  I  had  entirely  quenched  my 
thirst."  Then  he  turned  to  Maestro  Bernardino,  and 
said:  "Look  you  how  Nature  has  taken  precisely 
what  she  wanted,  neither  more  nor  less.  In  like  man- 
ner she  was  asking  for  what  she  wanted  when  the 
poor  young  man  begged  you  to  bleed  him.  If  you 
knew  that  his  recovery  depended  upon  his  drinking 
two  flasks  of  water,  why  did  you  not  say  so  before? 
You  might  then  have  boasted  of  his  cure."  At  these 
words  the  wretched  quack  sulkily  departed,  and  never 
showed  his  face  again. 

Maestro  Francesco  then  gave  orders  that  I  should 
be  removed  from  my  room  and  carried  to  one  of  the 
hills  there  are  in  Rome.  Cardinal  Cornaro,  when  he 
heard  of  my  improvement,  had  me  transported  to  a 
place  of  his  on  Monte  Cavallo.  That  very  evening 
I  was  taken  with  great  precautions  in  a  chair,  well 
wrapped  up  and  protected  from  the  cold.  No  sooner 
had  I  reached  the  place  than  I  began  to  vomit,  dur- 
ing which  there  came  from  my  stomach  a  hairy 

[   314  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

worm  about  a  quarter  of  a  cubit  in  length :  the  hairs 
were  long,  and  the  worm  was  very  ugly,  speckled 
of  divers  colours,  green,  black,  and  red.  They  kept 
and  showed  it  to  the  doctor,  who  said  he  had  never 
seen  anything  of  the  sort  before,  and  afterwards 
remarked  to  Felice :  "  Now  take  care  of  your  Ben- 
venuto,  for  he  is  cured.  Do  not  permit  him  any  ir- 
regularities; for  though  he  has  escaped  this  time, 
another  disorder  now  would  be  the  death  of  him. 
You  see  his  malady  has  been  so  grave,  that  if  we 
had  brought  him  the  extreme  un6lion,  we  might  not 
have  been  in  time.  Now  I  know  that  with  a  little 
patience  and  time  he  will  live  to  execute  more  of  his 
fine  works."  Then  he  turned  to  me  and  said:  "My 
Benvenuto,  be  prudent,  commit  no  excesses,  and 
when  you  are  quite  recovered,  I  beg  you  to  make 
me  a  Madonna  with  your  own  hand,  and  I  will  al- 
ways pay  my  devotions  to  it  for  your  sake."  This  I 
promised  to  do,  and  then  asked  him  whether  it  would 
be  safe  for  me  to  travel  so  far  as  to  Florence.  He 
advised  me  to  wait  till  I  was  stronger,  and  till  we 
could  observe  how  Nature  worked  in  me. 

LXXXVI 

When  eight  days  had  come  and  gone,  my  amend- 
ment was  so  slight  that  life  itself  became  almost  a 
burden  to  me;  indeed  I  had  been  more  than  fifty 
days  in  that  great  suffering.  So  I  made  my  mind  up, 
and  prepared  to  travel.  My  dear  Felice  and  I  went 
toward  Florence  in  a  pair  of  baskets;1  and  as  I  had 

1  Un  paio  di  ceste,  a  kind  of  litter,  here  described  in  the  plural,  because  two  of 
them  'were  perhaps  put  together.  I  ha<ve  thought  it  best  to  translate  the  phrase 

C  315  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

not  written,  when  I  reached  my  sister's  house,  she 
wept  and  laughed  over  me  all  in  one  breath.  That 
day  many  of  my  friends  came  to  see  me;  among 
others  Pier  Landi,  who  was  the  best  and  dearest 
friend  I  ever  had.  Next  day  there  came  a  certain 
Niccolo  da  Monte  Aguto,  who  was  also  a  very  great 
friend  of  mine.  Now  he  had  heard  the  Duke  say: 
"Benvenuto  would  have  done  much  better  to  die, 
because  he  is  come  to  put  his  head  into  a  noose,  and 
I  will  never  pardon  him."  Accordingly  when  Nic- 
colo arrived,  he  said  to  me  in  desperation: "  Alas!  my 
dear  Benvenuto,  what  have  you  come  to  do  here? 
Did  you  not  know  what  you  have  done  to  displease 
the  Duke?  I  have  heard  him  swear  that  you  were 
thrusting  your  head  into  a  halter/' Then  I  replied: 
"Niccolo,  remind  his  Excellency  that  Pope  Clement 
wanted  to  do  as  much  to  me  before,  and  quite  as  un- 
justly; tell  him  to  keep  his  eye  on  me,  and  give  me 
time  to  recover;  then  I  will  show  his  Excellency  that 
I  have  been  the  most  faithful  servant  he  will  ever 
have  in  all  his  life;  and  forasmuch  as  some  enemy 
must  have  served  me  this  bad  turn  through  envy,  let 
him  wait  till  I  get  well ;  for  I  shall  then  be  able  to  give 
such  an  account  of  myself  as  will  make  him  marvel." 
This  bad  turn  had  been  done  me  by  Giorgetto 
Vassellario  of  Arezzo,1  the  painter;  perchance  in  re- 
compense for  many  benefits  conferred  on  him.  I  had 
harboured  him  in  Rome  and  provided  for  his  costs, 
while  he  had  turned  my  whole  house  upside  down ; 

liter  ally.  From  a  Utter  of  Pare  hi  to  Bembo,  iue  learn  that  Cellini  reached  Florence, 
November  9,  1535. 

1  This  is  the  famous  Giorgio  Pasari,  a  bad  painter  and  nvorse  architect,  but  dear 
to  all  lovers  of  the  arts  for  his  anecdotic  ivork  upon  Italian  artists. 

C  316  ] 


GIORGIO      VASARI 
(BY   H  I  MS  ELF) 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

for  the  man  was  subject  to  a  species  of  dry  scab, 
which  he  was  always  in  the  habit  of  scratching  with 
his  hands.  It  happened,  then,  that  sleeping  in  the 
same  bed  as  an  excellent  workman,  named  Manno, 
who  was  in  my  service,  when  he  meant  to  scratch 
himself,  he  tore  the  skin  from  one  of  Manno's  legs 
with  his  filthy  claws,  the  nails  of  which  he  never 
used  to  cut.  The  said  Manno  left  my  service,  and 
was  resolutely  bent  on  killing  him.  I  made  the  quar- 
rel up,  and  afterwards  got  Giorgio  into  Cardinal 
de'  Medici's  household,  and  continually  helped  him. 
For  these  deserts,  then,  he  told  Duke  Alessandro 
that  I  had  abused  his  Excellency,  and  had  bragged 
I  meant  to  be  the  first  to  leap  upon  the  walls  of 
Florence  with  his  foes  the  exiles.  These  words,  as 
I  afterwards  learned,  had  been  put  into  Vasari's  lips 
by  that  excellent  fellow1  Ottaviano  de'  Medici,  who 
wanted  to  revenge  himself  for  the  Duke's  irritation 
against  him,  on  account  of  the  coinage  and  my  de- 
parture from  Florence.  I,  being  innocent  of  the  crime 
falsely  ascribed  to  me,  felt  no  fear  whatever.  Mean- 
while that  able  physician  Francesco  da  Monte  Varchi 
attended  to  my  cure  with  great  skill.  He  had  been 
brought  by  my  very  dear  friend  Luca  Martini,  who 
passed  the  larger  portion  of  the  day  with  me.2 

LXXXVII 

During  this  while  I  had  sent  my  devoted  comrade 
Felice  back  to  Rome,  to  look  after  our  business  there. 

1  Galantuomo,  used  ironically. 

*  Luca  Martini  <was  a  member  of  the  best  literary  society  in  his  days,  and  the  author 
of  some  famous  burlesque  pieces. 

C  317  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

When  I  could  raise  my  head  a  little  from  the  bolster, 
which  was  at  the  end  of  fifteen  days,  although  I  was 
unable  to  walk  upon  my  feet,  I  had  myself  carried 
to  the  palace  of  the  Medici,  and  placed  upon  the  lit- 
tle upper  terrace.  There  they  seated  me  to  wait  un- 
til the  Duke  went  by.  Many  of  my  friends  at  court 
came  up  to  greet  me,  and  expressed  surprise  that  I 
had  undergone  the  inconvenience  of  being  carried 
in  that  way,  while  so  shattered  by  illness;  they  said 
that  I  ought  to  have  waited  till  I  was  well,  and  then 
to  have  visited  the  Duke.  A  crowd  of  them  collected, 
all  looking  at  me  as  a  sort  of  miracle ;  not  merely 
because  they  had  heard  that  I  was  dead,  but  far  more 
because  I  had  the  look  of  a  dead  man.  Then  publicly, 
before  them  all,  I  said  how  some  wicked  scoundrel 
had  told  my  lord  the  Duke  that  I  had  bragged  I 
meant  to  be  the  first  to  scale  his  Excellency's  walls, 
and  also  that  I  had  abused  him  personally ;  where- 
fore I  had  not  the  heart  to  live  or  'die  till  I  had  purged 
myself  of  that  infamy,  and  found  out  who  the  au- 
dacious rascal  was  who  had  uttered  such  calumnies 
against  me.  At  these  words  a  large  number  of  those 
gentlemen  came  round,  expressing  great  compas- 
sion for  me;  one  said  one  thing,  one  another,  and  I 
told  them  I  would  never  go  thence  before  I  knew 
who  had  accused  me.  At  these  words  Maestro  Agos- 
tino,  the  Duke's  tailor,  made  his  way  through  all 
those  gentlemen,  and  said:  "If  that  is  all  you  want 
to  know,  you  shall  know  it  at  this  very  moment." 
Giorgio  the  painter,  whom  I  have  mentioned,  hap- 
pened just  then  to  pass,  and  Maestro  Agostino  ex- 
claimed: "There  is  the  man  who  accused  you;  now 

C  318   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

you  know  yourself  if  it  be  true  or  not."  As  fiercely 
as  I  could,  not  being  able  to  leave  my  seat,  I  asked 
Giorgio  if  it  was  true  that  he  had  accused  me.  He 
denied  that  it  was  so,  and  that  he  had  ever  said  any- 
thing of  the  sort.  Maestro  Agostino  retorted:  "You 
gallows-bird !  don't  you  know  that  I  know  it  for  most 
certain?"  Giorgio  made  off  as  quickly  as  he  could, 
repeating  that  he  had  not  accused  me.  Then,  after 
a  short  while,  the  Duke  came  by ;  whereupon  I  had 
myself  raised  up  before  his  Excellency,  and  he  halted. 
I  told  him  that  I  had  come  there  in  that  way  solely 
in  order  to  clear  my  character.  The  Duke  gazed  at 
me,  and  marvelled  I  was  still  alive;  afterwards  he 
bade  me  take  heed  to  be  an  honest  man  and  regain 
my  health. 

When  I  reached  home,  Niccolo  da  Monte  Aguto 
came  to  visit  me,  and  told  me  that  I  had  escaped  one 
of  the  most  dreadful  perils  in  the  world,  quite  con- 
trary to  all  his  expectations,  for  he  had  seen  my 
ruin  written  with  indelible  ink ;  now  I  must  make 
haste  to  get  well,  and  afterwards  take  French  leave, 
because  my  jeopardy  came  from  a  quarter  and  a  man 
who  was  able  to  destroy  me.  He  then  said,"  Beware," 
and  added:  "What  displeasure  have  you  given  to 
that  rascal  Ottaviano  de'  Medici  ? "  I  answered  that 
I  had  done  nothing  to  displease  him,  but  that  he  had 
injured  me;  and  told  him  all  the  affair  about  the 
Mint.  He  repeated :  "  Get  hence  as  quickly  as  you 
can,  and  be  of  good  courage,  for  you  will  see  your 
vengeance  executed  sooner  than  you  expe6t."  I  paid 
the  best  attention  to  my  health,  gave  Pietro  Pagolo 
advice  about  stamping  the  coins,  and  then  went  off 

C  319  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

upon  my  way  to  Rome  without  saying  a  word  to  the 
Duke  or  anybody  else. 

LXXXVIII 

When  I  reached  Rome,  and  had  enjoyed  the  com- 
pany of  my  friends  awhile,!  began  the  Duke's  medal. 
In  a  few  days  I  finished  the  head  in  steel,  arid  it  was 
the  finest  work  of  the  kind  which  I  had  ever  pro- 
duced. At  least  once  every  day  there  came  to  visit 
me  a  sort  of  blockhead  named  Messer  Francesco 
Soderini.1  When  he  saw  what  I  was  doing,  he  used 
frequently  to  exclaim:  "Barbarous  wretch!  you  want 
then  to  immortalise  that  ferocious  tyrant !  You  have 
never  made  anything  so  exquisite,  which  proves  you 
our  inveterate  foe  and  their  devoted  friend ;  and  yet 
the  Pope  and  he  have  had  it  twice  in  mind  to  hang 
you  without  any  fault  of  yours.  That  was  the  Father 
and  the  Son ;  now  beware  of  the  Holy  Ghost/'  It  was 
firmly  believed  that  Duke  Alessandro  was  the  son  of 
Pope  Clement.  Messer  Francesco  used  also  to  say 
and  swear  by  all  his  saints  that,  if  he  could,  he  would 
have  robbed  me  of  the  dies  for  that  medal.  I  re- 
sponded that  he  had  done  well  to  tell  me  so,  and 
that  I  would  take  such  care  of  them  that  he  should 
never  see  them  more. 

I  now  sent  to  Florence  to  request  Lorenzino  that 
he  would  send  me  the  reverse  of  the  medal.  Nic- 
colo  da  Monte  Aguto,  to  whom  I  had  written,  wrote 
back,  saying  that  he  had  spoken  to  that  mad  melan- 
choly philosopher  Lorenzino  for  it;  he  had  replied 
that  he  was  thinking  night  and  day  of  nothing  else, 

1  He  had  been  banished  in  1 5  30  as  a  foe  to  the  Me  dice  an  house. 

[    320    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

and  that  he  would  finish  it  as  soon  as  he  was  able. 
Nevertheless,  I  was  not  to  set  my  hopes  upon  his 
reverse,  but  I  had  better  invent  one  out  of  my  own 
head,  and  when  I  had  finished  it,  I  might  bring  it 
without  hesitation  to  the  Duke,  for  this  would  be  to 
my  advantage. 

I  composed  the  design  of  a  reverse  which  seemed 
to  me  appropriate,  and  pressed  the  work  forward  to 
my  best  ability.  Not  being,  however,  yet  recovered 
from  that  terrible  illness,  I  gave  my  self  frequent  re- 
laxation by  going  out  on  fowling  expeditions  with  my 
friend  Felice.  This  man  had  no  skill  in  my  art;  but 
since  we  were  perpetually  day  and  night  together, 
everybody  thought  he  was  a  first-rate  craftsman.  This 
being  so,  as  he  was  a  fellow  of  much  humour,  we 
used  often  to  laugh  together  about  the  great  credit 
he  had  gained.  His  name  was  Felice  Guadagni 
(Gain),  which  made  him  say  in  jest:  "I  should  be 
called  Felice  Gain-little  if  you  had  not  enabled  me 
to  acquire  such  credit  that  I  can  call  myself  Gain- 
much."  I  replied  that  there  are  two  ways  of  gaining: 
the  first  is  that  by  which  one  gains  for  one's  self, 
the  second  that  by  which  one  gains  for  others ;  so  I 
praised  him  much  more  for  the  second  than  the  first, 
since  he  had  gained  for  me  my  life. 

We  often  held  such  conversations ;  but  I  remember 
one  in  particular  on  the  day  of  Epiphany,  when  we 
were  together  near  La  Magliana.  It  was  close  upon 
nightfall,  and  during  the  day  I  had  shot  a  good  num- 
ber of  ducks  and  geese;  then,  as  I  had  almost  made 
my  mind  up  to  shoot  no  more  that  time,  we  were 
returning  briskly  toward  Rome.  Calling  to  my  dog 

C  321 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

by  his  name,  Barucco,  and  not  seeing  him  in  front  of 
me,  I  turned  round  and  noticed  that  the  well-trained 
animal  was  pointing  at  some  geese  which  had  set- 
tled in  a  ditch.  I  therefore  dismounted  at  once,  got 
my  fowling-piece  ready,  and  at  a  very  long  range 
brought  two  of  them  down  with  a  single  ball.  I  never 
used  to  shoot  with  more  than  one  ball,  and  was  usu- 
ally able  to  hit  my  mark  at  two  hundred  cubits,  which 
cannot  be  done  by  other  ways  of  loading.  Of  the  two 
geese,  one  was  almost  dead,  and  the  other,  though 
badly  wounded,  was  flying  lamely.  My  dog  retrieved 
the  one  and  brought  it  to  me ;  but  noticing  that  the 
other  was  diving  down  into  the  ditch,  I  sprang  for- 
ward to  catch  it.  Trusting  to  my  boots,  which  came 
high  up  the  leg,  I  put  one  foot  forward ;  it  sank  in 
the  oozy  ground ;  and  so,  although  I  got  the  goose, 
the  boot  of  my  right  leg  was  full  of  water.  I  lifted 
my  foot  and  let  the  water  run  out;  then,  when  I  had 
mounted,  we  made  haste  for  Rome.  The  cold,  how- 
ever, was  very  great,  and  I  felt  my  leg  freeze,  so 
that  I  said  to  Felice : "  We  must  do  something  to  help 
this  leg,  for  I  don't  know  how  to  bear  it  longer/' 
The  good  Felice,  without  a  word,  leapt  from  his 
horse,  and  gathering  some  thistles  and  bits  of  stick, 
began  to  build  a  fire.  I  meanwhile  was  waiting,  and 
put  my  hands  among  the  breast-feathers  of  the  geese, 
and  felt  them  very  warm.  So  I  told  him  not  to  make 
the  fire,  but  filled  my  boot  with  the  feathers  of  the 
goose,  and  was  immediately  so  much  comforted  that 
I  regained  vitality. 


322 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

LXXXIX 

We  mounted,  and  rode  rapidly  toward  Rome;  and 
when  we  had  reached  a  certain  gently  rising  ground 
— night  had  already  fallen — looking  in  the  direction 
of  Florence,  both  with  one  breath  exclaimed  in  the 
utmost  astonishment:  "O  God  of  heaven!  what  is 
that  great  thing  one  sees  there  over  Florence?"  It 
resembled  a  huge  beam  of  fire,  which  sparkled  and 
gave  out  extraordinary  lustre. 

I  said  to  Felice:  "  Assuredly  we  shall  hear  to-mor- 
row that  something  of  vast  importance  has  happened 
in  Florence/'  As  we  rode  into  Rome,  the  darkness 
was  extreme;  and  when  we  came  near  the  Banchi 
and  our  own  house,  my  little  horse  was  going  in  an 
amble  at  a  furious  speed.  Now  that  day  they  had 
thrown  a  heap  of  plaster  and  broken  tiles  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  road,  which  neither  my  horse  nor  myself 
perceived.  In  his  fiery  pace  the  beast  ran  up  it;  but 
on  coming  down  upon  the  other  side  he  turned  a 
complete  somersault.  He  had  his  head  between  his 
legs,  and  it  was  only  through  the  power  of  God 
himself  that  I  escaped  unhurt.  The  noise  we  made 
brought  the  neighbours  out  with  lights ;  but  I  had  al- 
ready jumped  to  my  feet;  and  so,  without  remount- 
ing, I  ran  home,  laughing  to  have  come  unhurt  out 
of  an  accident  enough  to  break  my  neck. 

On  entering  the  house,  I  found  some  friends  of 
mine  there,  to  whom,  while  we  were  supping  to- 
gether, I  related  the  adventures  of  the  day's  chase 
and  the  diabolical  apparition  of  the  fiery  beam  which 
we  had  seen.  They  exclaimed : "  What  shall  we  hear 

[  323 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

to-morrow  which  this  portent  has  announced?"  I 
answered : "  Some  revolution  must  certainly  have  oc- 
curred in  Florence."  So  we  supped  agreeably;  and 
late  the  next  day  there  came  the  news  to  Rome  of 
Duke  Alessandro's  death.1  Upon  this  many  of  my  ac- 
quaintances came  to  me  and  said :  "  You  were  right 
in  conjecturing  that  something  of  great  importance 
had  happened  at  Florence/'  Just  then  Francesco 
Soderini  appeared  jogging  along  upon  a  wretched 
mule  he  had,  and  laughing  all  the  way  like  a  mad- 
man. He  said  to  me:  "This  is  the  reverse  of  that 
vile  tyrant's  medal  which  your  Lorenzino  de'  Medici 
promised  you."  Then  he  added:  "You  wanted  to 
immortalise  the  dukes  for  us ;  but  we  mean  to  have 
no  more  dukes:"  and  thereupon  he  jeered  me,  as 
though  I  had  been  the  captain  of  the  factions  which 
make  dukes.  Meanwhile  a  certain  Baccio  Bettini,2 
who  had  an  ugly  big  head  like  a  bushel,  came  up  and 
began  to  banter  me  in  the  same  way  about  dukes, 
calling  out:  "We  have  dis-duked  them,  and  won't 
have  any  more  of  them ;  and  you  were  for  making 
them  immortal  for  us!"  with  many  other  tiresome 
quips  of  the  same  kind.  I  lost  my  patience  at  this  non- 
sense, and  said  to  them:  "You  blockheads!  I  am  a 
poor  goldsmith,  who  serve  whoever  pays  me ;  and 
you  are  jeering  me  as  though  I  were  a  party-leader. 
However,  this  shall  not  make  me  cast  in  your  teeth 
the  insatiable  greediness,  idiotcy,  and  good-for-no- 
thingness  of  your  predecessors.  But  this  one  answer 

1  Alessandro  was  murdered  by  his  cousin  Lorenzino  at  Florence  on  the  $th  of  Jan- 
uary 1537. 
*  Bettini  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Buonarroti  and  a  considerable  patron  of  the  arts. 

C  324  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

I  will  make  to  all  your  silly  railleries;  that  before 
two  or  three  days  at  the  longest  have  passed  by,  you 
will  have  another  duke,  much  worse  perhaps  than 
he  who  now  has  left  you/" 

The  following  day  Bettini  came  to  my  shop  and 
said :  "There  is  no  need  to  spend  money  in  couriers, 
for  you  know  things  before  they  happen.  What  spirit 
tells  them  to  you?"  Then  he  informed  me  that  Co- 
simo  de'  Medici,  the  son  of  Signer  Giovanni,  was 
made  Duke;  but  that  certain  conditions  had  been 
imposed  at  his  election,  which  would  hold  him  back 
from  kicking  up  his  heels  at  his  own  pleasure.  I  now 
had  my  opportunity  for  laughing  at  them,  and  say- 
ing: "  Those  men  of  Florence  have  set  a  young  man 
upon  a  mettlesome  horse ;  next  they  have  buckled 
spurs  upon  his  heels,  and  put  the  bridle  freely  in  his 
hands,  and  turned  him  out  upon  a  magnificent  field, 
full  of  flowers  and  fruits  and  all  delightful  things; 
next  they  have  bidden  him  not  to  cross  certain  in- 
dicated limits :  now  tell  me,  you,  who  there  is  that 
can  hold  him  back,  whenever  he  has  but  the  mind 
to  cross  them  ?  Laws  cannot  be  imposed  on  him  who 
is  the  master  of  the  law."  So  they  left  me  alone, 
and  gave  me  no  further  annoyance.2 

xc 

I  now  began  to  attend  to  my  shop,  and  did  some 
business,  not  however  of  much  moment,  because  I 

1  This  exchange  of  ironical  compliments  testifies  to  Cellini's  strong  Medicean  leanings, 
and  also  to  the  sagacity  with  which  he  judged  the  political  situation. 
9  Cellini  only  spoke  the  truth  on  this  occasion ;  for  Cosimo  soon  kicked  down  the  lad- 
der which  had  lifted  him  to  sovereignty,  and  showed  himself  the  absolute  master  of 
Florence.  Cosimo  was  elecJed  Duke  upon  the  yth  of  January  1537. 

C  325  j 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

had  still  to  think  about  my  health,  which  was  not 
yet  established  after  that  grave  illness  I  had  under- 
gone. About  this  time  the  Emperor  returned  vi6lo- 
rious  from  his  expedition  against  Tunis,  and  the  Pope 
sent  forme  to  take  my  advice  concerning  the  present 
of  honour  it  was  fit  to  give  him.1 1  answered  that  it 
seemed  to  me  most  appropriate  to  present  his  Impe- 
rial Majesty  with  a  golden  crucifix,  for  which  I  had 
almost  finished  an  ornament  quite  to  the  purpose, 
and  which  would  confer  the  highest  honour  upon 
his  Holiness  and  me.  I  had  already  made  three  little 
figures  of  gold  in  the  round,  about  a  palm  high ;  they 
were  those  which  I  had  begun  for  the  chalice  of  Pope 
Clement,  representing  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity.  To 
these  I  added  in  wax  what  was  wanting  for  the  base- 
ment of  the  cross.  I  carried  the  whole  to  the  Pope, 
with  the  Christ  in  wax,  and  many  other  exquisite 
decorations  which  gave  him  complete  satisfaction. 
Before  I  took  leave  of  his  Holiness,  we  had  agreed 
on  every  detail,  and  calculated  the  price  of  the  work. 
This  was  one  evening  four  hours  after  nightfall, 
and  the  Pope  had  ordered  Messer  Latino  Juvenale 
to  see  that  I  had  money  paid  to  me  next  morning. 
This  Messer  Latino,  who  had  a  pretty  big  dash  of 
the  fool  in  his  composition,  bethought  him  of  fur- 
nishing the  Pope  with  a  new  idea,  which  was,  how- 
ever, wholly  of  his  own  invention.  So  he  altered  ev- 
erything which  had  been  arranged ;  and  next  morn- 
ing, when  I  went  for  the  money,  he  said  with  his 
usual  brutal  arrogance :  "  It  is  our  part  to  invent,  and 

1  Cellini  returns  to  the  year  1535,  when  Charles  V.  arrived  in  November  from 
Tunis. 

326 


CHARLES     V 
(  T  I  Tl  AN  ) 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

yours  to  execute;  before  I  left  the  Pope  last  night 
we  thought  of  something  far  superior/'  To  these 
first  words  I  answered,  without  allowing  him  to  pro- 
ceed farther:  "Neither  you  nor  the  Pope  can  think 
of  anything  better  than  a  piece  in  which  Christ  plays 
a  part ;  so  you  may  go  on  with  your  courtier's  non- 
sense till  you  have  no  more  to  say." 

Without  uttering  one  word,  he  left  me  in  a  rage, 
and  tried  to  get  the  work  given  to  another  goldsmith. 
The  Pope,  however,  refused,  and  sent  for  me  at  once, 
and  told  me  I  had  spoken  well,  but  that  they  wanted 
to  make  use  of  a  Book  of  Hours  of  Our  Lady,  which 
was  marvellously  illuminated,  and  had  cost  the  Car- 
dinal de'  Medici  more  than  two  thousand  crowns. 
They  thought  that  this  would  be  an  appropriate  pre- 
sent to  the  Empress,  and  that  for  the  Emperor  they 
would  afterwards  make  what  I  had  suggested,  which 
was  indeed  a  present  worthy  of  him ;  but  now  there 
was  no  time  to  lose,  since  the  Emperor  was  expe6led 
in  Rome  in  about  a  month  and  a  half.  He  wanted  the 
book  to  be  enclosed  in  a  case  of  massive  gold,  richly 
worked,  and  adorned  with  jewels  valued  at  about 
six  thousand  crowns.  Accordingly,  when  the  jewels 
and  the  gold  were  given  me,  I  began  the  work,  and 
driving  it  briskly  forward,  in  a  few  days  brought 
it  to  such  beauty  that  the  Pope  was  astonished,  and 
showed  me  the  most  distinguished  signs  of  favour, 
conceding  at  the  same  time  that  that  beast  Juvenale 
should  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  me. 

I  had  nearly  brought  my  work  to  its  completion 
when  the  Emperor  arrived,  and  numerous  triumphal 
arches  of  great  magnificence  were  ere<5led  in  his 

C  327  1 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

honour.  He  entered  Rome  with  extraordinary  pomp, 
the  description  of  which  I  leave  to  others,  since  I 
mean  to  treat  of  those  things  only  which  concern 
myself.1  Immediately  after  his  arrival,  he  gave  the 
Pope  a  diamond  which  he  had  bought  for  twelve 
thousand  crowns.  This  diamond  the  Pope  committed 
to  my  care,  ordering  me  to  make  a  ring  to  the  mea- 
sure of  his  Holiness's  finger ;  but  first  he  wished  me 
to  bring  the  book  in  the  state  to  which  I  had  advanced 
it.  I  took  it  accordingly,  and  he  was  highly  pleased 
with  it;  then  he  asked  my  advice  concerning  the 
apology  which  could  be  reasonably  made  to  the  Em- 
peror for  the  unfinished  condition  of  my  work.  I  said 
that  my  indisposition  would  furnish  a  sound  excuse, 
since  his  Majesty,  seeing  how  thin  and  pale  I  was, 
would  very  readily  believe  and  accept  it.  To  this  the 
Pope  replied  that  he  approved  of  the  suggestion,  but 
that  I  should  add  on  the  part  of  his  Holiness,  when 
I  presented  the  book  to  the  Emperor,  that  I  made 
him  the  present  of  myself.  Then  he  told  me  in  detail 
how  I  had  to  behave,  and  the  words  I  had  to  say. 
These  words  I  repeated  to  the  Pope,  asking  him  if 
he  wished  me  to  deliver  them  in  that  way.  He  re- 
plied :  "  You  would  acquit  yourself  to  admiration  if 
you  had  the  courage  to  address  the  Emperor  as  you 
are  addressing  me/'  Then  I  said  that  I  had  the  cour- 
age to  speak  with  far  greater  ease  and  freedom  to 
the  Emperor,  seeing  that  the  Emperor  was  clothed 
as  I  was,  and  that  I  should  seem  to  be  speaking  to  a 
man  formed  like  myself;  this  was  not  the  case  when 
I  addressed  his  Holiness,in  whom  I  beheld  a  far  supe- 

1  The  entry  Into  Rome  took  place  April  6,  1536. 

C  328  i 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

rior  deity,  both  by  reason  of  his  ecclesiastical  adorn- 
ments, which  shed  a  certain  aureole  about  him,  and  at 
the  same  time  because  of  his  Holiness's  dignity  of 
venerable  age ;  all  these  things  inspired  in  me  more 
awe  than  the  Imperial  Majesty.  To  these  words  the 
Pope  responded :  "  Go,  my  Benvenuto ;  you  are  a  man 
of  ability ;  do  us  honour,  and  it  will  be  well  for  you." 

xci 

The  Pope  ordered  out  two  Turkish  horses,  which 
had  belonged  to  Pope  Clement,  and  were  the  most 
beautiful  that  ever  came  to  Christendom.  Messer 
Durante,1  his  chamberlain,  was  bidden  to  bring  them 
through  the  lower  galleries  of  the  palace,  and  there 
to  give  them  to  the  Emperor,  repeating  certain  words 
which  his  Holiness  dictated  to  him.  We  both  went 
down  together,  and  when  we  reached  the  presence 
of  the  Emperor,  the  horses  made  their  entrance 
through  those  halls  with  so  much  spirit  and  such  a 
noble  carriage  that  the  Emperor  and  every  one  were 
struck  with  wonder.  Thereupon  Messer  Durante 
advanced  in  so  graceless  a  manner,  and  delivered 
his  speech  with  so  much  of  Brescian  lingo,  mumbling 
his  words  over  in  his  mouth,  that  one  never  saw  or 
heard  anything  worse;  indeed  the  Emperor  could 
not  refrain  from  smiling  at  him.  I  meanwhile  had 
already  uncovered  my  piece ;  and  observing  that  the 
Emperor  had  turned  his  eyes  towards  me  with  a 
very  gracious  look,  I  advanced  at  once  and  said: 
"  Sacred  Majesty,  our  most  holy  Father,  Pope  Paolo, 

1  Messer  Durante  Duranti,  Prefefl  of  the  Camera  under  Paul  III.,  <who  ga<ve  him 
the  hat  in  1 544,  and  the  Bishopric  of  Brescia  afterwards. 

329 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

sends  this  book  of  the  Virgin  as  a  present  to  your 
Majesty,  the  which  is  written  in  a  fair  clerk's  hand, 
and  illuminated  by  the  greatest  master  who  ever  pro- 
fessed that  art ;  and  this  rich  cover  of  gold  and  jewels 
is  unfinished,  as  you  here  behold  it,  by  reason  of  my 
illness:  wherefore  his  Holiness,  together  with  the 
book,  presents  me  also,  and  attaches  me  to  your 
Majesty  in  order  that  I  may  complete  the  work;  nor 
this  alone,  but  everything  which  you  may  have  it  in 
your  mind  to  execute  so  long  as  life  is  left  me,  will 
I  perform  at  your  service."  Thereto  the  Emperor 
responded:  "The  book  is  acceptable  to  me,  and  so 
are  you;  but  I  desire  you  to  complete  it  for  me  in 
Rome;  when  it  is  finished,  and  you  are  restored  to 
health,  bring  it  me  and  come  to  see  me."  Afterwards, 
in  course  of  conversation,  he  called  me  by  my  name, 
which  made  me  wonder,  because  no  words  had  been 
dropped  in  which  my  name  occurred;  and  he  said 
that  he  had  seen  that  fastening  of  Pope  Clement's 
cope,  on  which  I  had  wrought  so  many  wonderful 
figures.  We  continued  talking  in  this  way  a  whole 
half  hour,  >  touching  on  divers  topics  artistic  and 
agreeable ;  then,  since  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  ac- 
quitted myself  with  more  honour  than  I  had  ex- 
pected, I  took  the  occasion  of  a  slight  lull  in  the  con- 
versation to  make  my  bow  and  to  retire.  The  Em- 
peror was  heard  to  say:  "Let  five  hundred  golden 
crowns  be  given  at  once  to  Benvenuto."  The  person 
who  brought  them  up  asked  who  the  Pope's  man 
was  who  had  spoken  to  the  Emperor.  Messer  Du- 
rante  came  forward  and  robbed  me  of  my  five  hun- 
dred crowns.  I  complained  to  the  Pope,  who  told  me 

•C  330  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

not  to  be  uneasy,  for  he  knew  how  everything  had 
happened,  and  how  well  I  had  conducted  myself  in 
addressing  the  Emperor,  and  of  the  money  I  should 
certainly  obtain  my  share. 

xcn 

When  I  returned  to  my  shop,  I  set  my  hand  with 
diligence  to  finishing  the  diamond  ring,  concerning 
which  the  four  first  jewellers  of  Rome  were  sent  to 
consult  with  me.  This  was  because  the  Pope  had 
been  informed  that  the  diamond  had  been  set  by  the 
first  jeweller  of  the  world  in  Venice;  he  was  called 
Maestro  Miliano  Targhetta ;  and  the  diamond  being 
somewhat  thin,  the  job  of  setting  it  was  too  difficult 
to  be  attempted  without  great  deliberation.  I  was 
well  pleased  to  receive  these  four  jewellers,  among 
whom  was  a  man  of  Milan  called  Gaio.  He  was  the 
most  presumptuous  donkey  in  the  world,  the  one 
who  knew  least  and  who  thought  he  knew  most; 
the  others  were  very  modest  and  able  craftsmen.  In 
the  presence  of  us  all  this  Gaio  began  to  talk,  and 
said:  "  Miliano's  foil  should  be  preserved,  and  to  do 
that,  Benvenuto,  you  shall  doff  your  cap;1  for  just 
as  giving  diamonds  a  tint  is  the  most  delicate  and 
difficult  thing  in  the  jeweller's  art,  so  is  Miliano  the 
greatest  jeweller  that  ever  lived,  and  this  is  the  most 
difficult  diamond  to  tint."  I  replied  that  it  was  all 
the  greater  glory  for  me  to  compete  with  so  able  a 
master  in  such  an  excellent  profession.  Afterwards 

1  In  the  Oreficeria  Cellini  gives  an  account  of  honu  these  foils  nuere  made  and  ap- 
plied. They  'were  composed  of  paste,  and  coloured  so  as  to  enhance  the  effeft  of  precious 
stones,  particularly  diamonds. 

C   331    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

I  turned  to  the  other  jewellers  and  said:  "Look  here! 
I  am  keeping  Miliano's  foil,  and  I  will  see  whether 
I  can  improve  on  it  with  some  of  my  own  manufac- 
ture; if  not,  we  will  tint  it  with  the  same  you  see 
here/'  That  ass  Gaio  exclaimed  that  if  I  made  a  foil 
like  that  he  would  gladly  doff  his  cap  to  it.  To  which 
I  replied:  "Supposing  then  I  make  it  better,  it  will 
deserve  two  bows."  "Certainly  so,"  said  he;  and  I 
began  to  compose  my  foils. 

I  took  the  very  greatest  pains  in  mixing  the  tints, 
the  method  of  doing  which  I  will  explain  in  the 
proper  place.1  It  is  certain  that  the  diamond  in  ques- 
tion offered  more  difficulties  than  any  others  which 
before  or  afterwards  have  come  into  my  hands,  and 
Miliano's  foil  was  made  with  true  artistic  skill.  How- 
ever, that  did  not  dismay  me ;  but  having  sharpened 
my  wits  up,  I  succeeded  not  only  in  making  some- 
thing quite  as  good,  but  in  exceeding  it  by  far.  Then, 
when  I  saw  that  I  had  surpassed  him,  I  went  about 
to  surpass  myself,  and  produced  a  foil  by  new  pro- 
cesses which  was  a  long  way  better  than  what  I  had 
previously  made.  Thereupon  I  sent  for  the  jewellers ; 
and  first  I  tinted  the  diamond  with  Miliano's  foil; 
then  I  cleaned  it  well  and  tinted  it  afresh  with  my 
own.  When  I  showed  it  to  the  jewellers,  one  of  the 
best  among  them,  who  was  called  Raffael  del  Moro, 
took  the  diamond  in  his  hand  and  said  to  Gaio: "  Ben- 
venuto  has  outdone  the  foil  of  Miliano."  Gaio,  un- 
willing to  believe  it,  took  the  diamond  and  said: 
"Benvenuto,  this  diamond  is  worth  two  thousand 
ducats  more  than  with  the  foil  of  Miliano."  I  rejoined: 

1  Oreficeria,  cap.  i. 

C   332   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

"Now  that  I  have  surpassed  Miliano,  let  us  see  if  I 
can  surpass  myself."  Then  I  begged  them  to  wait  for 
me  a  while,  went  up  into  a  little  cabinet,  and  having 
tinted  the  diamond  anew  unseen  by  them,  returned 
and  showed  it  to  the  jewellers.  Gaio  broke  out  at 
once:  "This  is  the  most  marvellous  thing  that  I 
have  ever  seen  in  the  course  of  my  whole  lifetime. 
The  stone  is  worth  upwards  of  eighteen  thousand 
crowns,  whereas  we  valued  it  at  barely  twelve  thou- 
sand/' The  other  jewellers  turned  to  him  and  said: 
"  Benvenuto  is  the  glory  of  our  art,  and  it  is  only 
due  that  we  should  doff  our  caps  to  him  and  to  his 
foils/'  Then  Gaio  said: "  I  shall  go  and  tell  the  Pope, 
and  I  mean  to  procure  for  him  one  thousand  golden 
crowns  for  the  setting  of  this  diamond/'  Accordingly 
he  hurried  to  the  Pope  and  told  him  the  whole  story; 
whereupon  his  Holiness  sent  three  times  on  that  day 
to  see  if  the  ring  was  finished. 

At  twenty-three  o'clock  I  took  the  ring  to  the  pal- 
ace ;  and  since  the  doors  were  always  open  to  me, 
I  lifted  the  curtain  gently,  and  saw  the  Pope  in  pri- 
vate audience  with  the  Marchese  del  Guasto/  The 
Marquis  must  have  been  pressing  something  on  the 
Pope  which  he  was  unwilling  to  perform ;  for  I  heard 
him  say:  "I  tell  you,  no;  it  is  my  business  to  remain 
neutral,  and  nothing  else."  I  was  retiring  as  quickly 
as  I  could,  when  the  Pope  himself  called  me  back;  so 
I  entered  the  room,  and  presented  the  diamond  ring, 
upon  which  he  drew  me  aside,  and  the  Marquis  re- 
tired to  a  distance.  While  looking  at  the  diamond, 

1  Alfonson  d'A-uahs,  successor  and  heir  to  the  famous  Ferdinando  d^Avalos,  Marquis 
of  Pescara.  He  afledfor  many  years  as  Spanish  Viceroy  of  Milan. 

333 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

the  Pope  whispered  to  me:  "Benvenuto,  begin 
some  conversation  with  me  on  a  subject  which  shall 
seem  important,  and  do  not  stop  talking  so  long  as 
the  Marquis  remains  in  this  room."  Then  he  took 
to  walking  up  and  down ;  and  the  occasion  making 
for  my  advantage,  I  was  very  glad  to  discourse  with 
him  upon  the  methods  I  had  used  to  tint  the  stone. 
The  Marquis  remained  standing  apart,  leaning  against 
a  piece  of  tapestry;  and  now  he  balanced  himself 
about  on  one  foot,  now  on  the  other.  The  subje6l  I 
had  chosen  to  discourse  upon  was  of  such  importance, 
if  fully  treated,  that  I  could  have  talked  about  it  at 
least  three  hours.  The  Pope  was  entertained  to  such 
a  degree  that  he  forgot  the  annoyance  of  the  Mar- 
quis standing  there.  I  seasoned  what  I  had  to  say  with 
that  part  of  natural  philosophy  which  belongs  to 
our  profession ;  and  so  having  spoken  for  near  upon 
an  hour,  the  Marquis  grew  tired  of  waiting,  and 
went  off  fuming.  Then  the  Pope  bestowed  on  me  the 
most  familiar  caresses  which  can  be  imagined,  and 
exclaimed:  "  Have  patience,  my  dear  Benvenuto,  for 
I  will  give  you  a  better  reward  for  your  virtues  than 
the  thousand  crowns  which  Gaio  tells  me  your  work 
is  worth/' 

On  this  I  took  my  leave ;  and  the  Pope  praised  me 
in  the  presence  of  his  household,  among  whom  was 
the  fellow  Latino  Juvenale,  whom  I  have  previously 
mentioned.  This  man,  having  become  my  enemy, 
assiduously  strove  to  do  me  hurt;  and  noticing  that 
the  Pope  talked  of  me  with  so  much  affeclion  and 
warmth,  he  put  in  his  word:  "There  is  no  doubt  at 
all  that  Benvenuto  is  a  person  of  very  remarkable 

£  334 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

genius ;  but  while  everyone  is  naturally  bound  to  feel 
more  good-will  for  his  own  countrymen  than  for 
others,  still  one  ought  to  consider  maturely  what  lan- 
guage it  is  right  and  proper  to  use  when  speaking 
of  a  Pope.  He  has  had  the  audacity  to  say  that  Pope 
Clement  indeed  was  the  handsomest  sovereign  that 
ever  reigned,  and  no  less  gifted;  only  that  luck  was 
always  against  him :  and  he  says  that  your  Holiness 
is  quite  the  opposite ;  that  the  tiara  seems  to  weep  for 
rage  upon  your  head ;  that  you  look  like  a  truss  of 
straw  with  clothes  on,  and  that  there  is  nothing  in 
you  except  good  luck."  These  words,  reported  by 
a  man  who  knew  most  excellently  how  to  say  them, 
had  such  force  that  they  gained  credit  with  the  Pope. 
Far  from  having  uttered  them,  such  things  had  never 
come  into  my  head.  If  the  Pope  could  have  done  so 
without  losing  credit,  he  would  certainly  have  taken 
fierce  revenge  upon  me ;  but  being  a  man  of  great 
tacl  and  talent,  he  made  a  show  of  turning  it  off  with 
a  laugh.  Nevertheless  he  harboured  in  his  heart  a 
deep  vindictive  feeling  against  me,  of  which  I  was 
not  slow  to  be  aware,  since  I  had  no  longer  the  same 
easy  access  to  his  apartments  as  formerly,  but  found 
the  greatest  difficulty  in  procuring  audience.  As  I 
had  now  for  many  years  been  familiar  with  the  man- 
ners of  the  Roman  court,  I  conceived  that  some  one 
had  done  me  a  bad  turn ;  and  on  making  dexterous 
inquiries,  I  was  told  the  whole,  but  not  the  name  of 
my  calumniator.  I  could  not  imagine  who  the  man 
was ;  had  I  but  found  him  out,  my  vengeance  would 
not  have  been  measured  by  troy  weight.1 

1  Io  ne  aret  fatte  vendette  a  misura  di  carbotu. 

C   335  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

XCIII 

I  went  on  working  at  my  book,  and  when  I  had 
finished  it  I  took  it  to  the  Pope,  who  was  in  good 
truth  unable  to  refrain  from  commending  it  greatly. 
I  begged  him  to  send  me  with  it  to  the  Emperor,  as 
he  had  promised.  He  replied  that  he  would  do  what 
he  thought  fit,  and  that  I  had  performed  my  part 
of  the  business.  So  he  gave  orders  that  I  should  be 
well  paid.  These  two  pieces  of  work,  on  which  I  had 
spent  upwards  of  two  months,  brought  me  in  five 
hundred  crowns:  for  the  diamond  I  was  paid  one 
hundred  and  fifty  crowns  and  no  more;  the  rest  was 
given  me  for  the  cover  of  the  book,  which,  however, 
was  worth  more  than  a  thousand, being  enriched  with 
multitudes  of  figures,  arabesques,  enamellings,  and 
jewels.  I  took  what  I  could  get,  and  made  my  mind 
up  to  leave  Rome  without  permission.  The  Pope 
meanwhile  sent  my  book  to  the  Emperor  by  the 
hand  of  his  grandson,  Signor  Sforza.1  Upon  accept- 
ing it,  the  Emperor  expressed  great  satisfaction,  and 
immediately  asked  for  me.  Young  Signor  Sforza, 
who  had  received  his  instructions,  said  that  I  had 
been  prevented  by  illness  from  coming.  All  this  was 
reported  to  me. 

My  preparations  for  the  journey  into  France  were 
made;  and  I  wished  to  go  alone,  but  was  unable  on 
account  of  a  lad  in  my  service  called  Ascanio.  He  was 
of  very  tender  age,  and  the  most  admirable  servant 
in  the  world.  When  I  took  him  he  had  left  a  former 

1  Sforza  Sforza,  son  of  Bosio,  Count  of  Santa  Fiore,  and  of  Costanza  Farnese,  the 
Popes  natural  daughter.  He  ivas  a  youth  of  sixteen  at  this  epoch. 

[    336    J 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

master,  named  Francesco,  a  Spaniard  and  a  gold- 
smith. I  did  not  much  like  to  take  him,  lest  I  should 
get  into  a  quarrel  with  the  Spaniard,  and  said  to 
Ascanio:  "I  do  not  want  to  have  you,  for  fear  of 
offending  your  master/'  He  contrived  that  his  master 
should  write  me  a  note  informing  me  that  I  was  free 
to  take  him.  So  he  had  been  with  me  some  months; 
and  since  he  came  to  us  both  thin  and  pale  of  face, 
we  called  him  "the  little  old  man;"  indeed  I  almost 
thought  he  was  one,  partly  because  he  was  so  good 
a  servant,  and  partly  because  he  was  so  clever  that 
it  seemed  unlikely  he  should  have  such  talent  at 
thirteen  years,  which  he  affirmed  his  age  to  be.  Now 
to  go  back  to  the  point  from  which  I  started,  he  im- 
proved in  person  during  those  few  months,  and  gain- 
ing in  flesh,  became  the  handsomest  youth  in  Rome. 
Being  the  excellent  servant  which  I  have  described, 
and  showing  marvellous  aptitude  for  our  art,  I  felt 
a  warm  and  fatherly  affection  for  him,  and  kept  him 
clothed  as  if  he  had  been  my  own  son.  When  the 
boy  perceived  the  improvement  he  had  made,  he 
esteemed  it  a  good  piece  of  luck  that  he  had  come 
into  my  hands ;  and  he  used  frequently  to  go  and 
thank  his  former  master,  who  had  been  the  cause  of 
his  prosperity.  Now  this  man  had  a  handsome  young 
woman  to  wife,  who  said  to  him:  "Surgetto"  (that 
was  what  they  called  him  when  he  lived  with  them), 
"what  have  you  been  doing  to  become  so  hand- 
some?" Ascanio  answered:  "Madonna  Francesca, 
it  is  my  master  who  has  made  me  so  handsome,  and 
far  more  good  to  boot."  In  her  petty  spiteful  way 
she  took  it  very  ill  that  Ascanio  should  speak  so; 

[   337  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

and  having  no  reputation  for  chastity,  she  contrived 
to  caress  the  lad  more  perhaps  than  was  quite  seemly, 
which  made  me  notice  that  he  began  to  visit  her 
more  frequently  than  his  wont  had  been. 

One  day  Ascanio  took  to  beating  one  of  our  lit- 
tle shopboys,  who,  when  I  came  home  from  out  of 
doors,  complained  to  me  with  tears  that  Ascanio  had 
knocked  him  about  without  any  cause.  Hearing  this, 
I  said  to  Ascanio:  "With  cause  or  without  cause, 
see  you  never  strike  any  one  of  my  family,  or  else 
I'll  make  you  feel  how  I  can  strike  myself/'  He 
bandied  words  with  me,  which  made  me  jump  on 
him  and  give  him  the  severest  drubbing  with  both 
fists  and  feet  that  he  had  ever  felt.  As  soon  as  he 
escaped  my  clutches,  he  ran  away  without  cape  or 
cap,  and  for  two  days  I  did  not  know  where  he  was, 
and  took  no  care  to  find  him.  After  that  time  a  Span- 
ish gentleman,  called  Don  Diego,  came  to  speak  to 
me.  He  was  the  most  generous  man  in  the  world. 
I  had  made,  and  was  making,  some  things  for  him, 
which  had  brought  us  well  acquainted.  He  told  me 
that  Ascanio  had  gone  back  to  his  old  master,  and 
asked  me,  if  I  thought  it  proper,  to  send  him  the 
cape  and  cap  which  I  had  given  him.  Thereupon  I 
said  that  Francesco  had  behaved  badly,  and  like  a 
low-bred  fellow ;  for  if  he  had  told  me,  when  Asca- 
nio first  came  back  to  him,  that  he  was  in  his  house, 
I  should  very  willingly  have  given  him  leave;  but 
now  that  he  had  kept  him  two  days  without  inform- 
ing me,  I  was  resolved  he  should  not  have  him;  and 
let  him  take  care  that  I  do  not  set  eyes  upon  the 
lad  in  his  house.  This  message  was  reported  by  Don 

C  338   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

Diego,  but  it  only  made  Francesco  laugh.  The  next 
morning  I  saw  Ascanio  working  at  some  trifles  in 
wire  at  his  master's  side.  As  I  was  passing  he  bowed 
to  me,  and  his  master  almost  laughed  me  in  the  face. 
He  sent  again  to  ask  through  Don  Diego  whether 
I  would  not  give  Ascanio  back  the  clothes  he  had 
received  from  me;  but  if  not,  he  did  not  mind,  and 
Ascanio  should  not  want  for  clothes.  When  I  heard 
this,  I  turned  to  Don  Diego  and  said:  "  Don  Diego, 
sir,  in  all  your  dealings  you  are  the  most  liberal  and 
worthy  man  I  ever  knew;  but  that  Francesco  is  quite 
the  opposite  of  you;  he  is  nothing  better  than  a 
worthless  and  dishonoured  renegade.  Tell  him  from 
me  that  if  he  does  not  bring  Ascanio  here  himself 
to  my  shop  before  the  bell  for  vespers,  I  will  as- 
suredly kill  him ;  and  tell  Ascanio  that  if  he  does  not 
quit  that  house  at  the  hour  appointed  for  his  master, 
I  will  treat  him  much  in  the  same  way."  Don  Diego 
made  no  answer,  but  went  and  inspired  such  terror 
in  Francesco  that  he  knew  not  what  to  do  with  him- 
self. Ascanio  meanwhile  had  gone  to  find  his  father, 
who  had  come  to  Rome  from  Tagliacozzo,  his  birth- 
place ;  and  this  man  also,  when  he  heard  about  the 
row,  advised  Francesco  to  bring  Ascanio  back  to 
me.  Francesco  said  to  Ascanio:  "Go  on  your  own 
account,  and  your  father  shall  go  with  you."  Don 
Diego  put  in  :  "  Francesco,  I  foresee  that  something 
very  serious  will  happen ;  you  know  better  than  I  do 
what  a  man  Benvenuto  is ;  take  the  lad  back  cour- 
ageously, and  I  will  come  with  you/'  I  had  prepared 
myself,  and  was  pacing  up  and  down  the  shop  wait- 
ing for  the  bell  to  vespers ;  my  mind  was  made  up 

C   339  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

to  do  one  of  the  bloodiest  deeds  which  I  had  ever 
attempted  in  my  life.  Just  then  arrived  Don  Diego, 
Francesco,  Ascanio,  and  his  father,  whom  I  did  not 
know.  When  Ascanio  entered,  I  gazed  at  the  whole 
company  with  eyes  of  rage,  and  Francesco,  pale  as 
death,  began  as  follows:  "See  here,  I  have  brought 
back  Ascanio,  whom  I  kept  with  me,  not  thinking 
that  I  should  offend  you."  Ascanio  added  humbly: 
"  Master,  pardon  me;  I  am  at  your  disposal  here,  to 
do  whatever  you  shall  order. "Then  I  said:  "Have 
you  come  to  work  out  the  time  you  promised  me?" 
He  answered  yes,  and  that  he  meant  never  to  leave 
me.  Then  I  turned  and  told  the  shopboy  he  had 
beaten  to  hand  him  the  bundle  of  clothes,  and  said 
to  him:  "Here  are  all  the  clothes  I  gave  you;  take 
with  them  your  discharge,  and  go  where  you  like." 
Don  Diego  stood  astonished  at  this,  which  was  quite 
the  contrary  of  what  he  had  expecled ;  while  Ascanio 
with  his  father  besought  me  to  pardon  and  take  him 
back.  On  my  asking  who  it  was  who  spoke  for  him, 
he  said  it  was  his  father;  to  whom,  after  many  en- 
treaties, I  replied :  "  Because  you  are  his  father,  for 
your  sake  I  will  take  him  back." 

xciv 

I  had  formed  the  resolution,  as  I  said  a  short  while 
back,  to  go  toward  France;  partly  because  I  saw 
that  the  Pope  did  not  hold  me  in  the  same  esteem 
as  formerly,  my  faithful  service  having  been  be- 
smirched by  lying  tongues;  and  also  because  I  feared 
lest  those  who  had  the  power  might  play  me  some 
worse  trick.  So  I  was  determined  to  seek  better  for- 

[   340  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

tune  in  a  foreign  land,  and  wished  to  leave  Rome 
without  company  or  license.  On  the  eve  of  my  pro- 
jected departure,  I  told  my  faithful  friend  Felice  to 
make  free  use  of  all  my  effects  during  my  absence; 
and  in  the  case  of  my  not  returning,  left  him  every- 
thing I  possessed.  Now  there  was  a  Perugian  work- 
man in  my  employ,  who  had  helped  me  on  those 
commissions  from  the  Pope;  and  after  paying  his 
wages,  I  told  him  he  must  leave  my  service.  He 
begged  me  in  reply  to  let  him  go  with  me,  and  said 
he  would  come  at  his  own  charges ;  if  I  stopped  to 
work  for  the  King  of  France,  it  would  certainly  be 
better  for  me  to  have  Italians  by  me,  and  in  particu- 
lar such  persons  as  I  knew  to  be  capable  of  giving 
me  assistance.  His  entreaties  and  arguments  per- 
suaded me  to  take  him  on  the  journey  in  the  manner 
he  proposed.  Ascanio,  who  was  present  at  this  de- 
bate, said,  half  in  tears:  "When  you  took  me  back, 
I  said  I  wished  to  remain  with  you  my  lifetime,  and 
so  I  have  it  in  my  mind  to  do."  I  told  him  that  no- 
thing in  the  world  would  make  me  consent;  but  when 
I  saw  that  the  poor  lad  was  preparing  to  follow  on 
foot,  I  engaged  a  horse  for  him  too,  put  a  small  va- 
lise upon  the  crupper,  and  loaded  myself  with  far 
more  useless  baggage  than  I  should  otherwise  have 
taken.1 

From  home  I  travelled  to  Florence,  from  Florence 
to  Bologna,  from  Bologna  to  Venice,  and  from  Venice 
to  Padua.  There  my  dear  friend  Albertaccio  del  Bene 
made  me  leave  the  inn  for  his  house ;  and  next  day 
I  went  to  kiss  the  hand  of  Messer  Pietro  Bembo, 

1  He  left  Rome,  April  i,  1537. 

C   341    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

who  was  not  yet  a  Cardinal.1  He  received  me  with 
marks  of  the  warmest  affection  which  could  be  be- 
stowed on  any  man ;  then  turning  to  Albertaccio,  he 
said:  "I  want  Benvenuto  to  stay  here,  with  all  his 
followers,  even  though  they  be  a  hundred  men;  make 
then  your  mind  up,  if  you  want  Benvenuto  also,  to 
stay  here  with  me,  for  I  do  not  mean  elsewise  to  let 
you  have  him."  Accordingly  I  spent  a  very  pleasant 
visit  at  the  house  of  that  most  accomplished  gentle- 
man. He  had  a  room  prepared  for  me  which  would 
have  been  too  grand  for  a  cardinal,  and  always  in- 
sisted on  my  taking  my  meals  beside  him.  Later  on, 
he  began  to  hint  in  very  modest  terms  that  he  should 
greatly  like  me  to  take  his  portrait.  I,  who  desired 
nothing  in  the  world  more,  prepared  some  snow- 
white  plaster  in  a  little  box,  and  set  to  work  at  once. 
The  first  day  I  spent  two  hours  on  end  at  my  mod- 
elling, and  blocked  out  the  fine  head  of  that  eminent 
man  with  so  much  grace  of  manner  that  his  lordship 
was  fairly  astounded.  Now,  though  he  was  a  man 
of  profound  erudition  and  without  a  rival  in  poetry, 
he  understood  nothing  at  all  about  my  art;  this  made 
him  think  that  I  had  finished  when  I  had  hardly  be- 
gun, so  that  I  could  not  make  him  comprehend  what 
a  long  time  it  took  to  execute  a  thing  of  that  sort 
thoroughly.  At  last  I  resolved  to  do  it  as  well  as  I 
was  able,  and  to  spend  the  requisite  time  upon  it; 
but  since  he  wore  his  beard  short  after  the  Venetian 
fashion,  I  had  great  trouble  in  modelling  a  head  to 

1  /  need  hardly  say  that  this  is  the  Bembo  'who  ruled  wer  Italian  literature  like 
a  dictator  from  the  reign  of  Leo  X.  onwards.  He  <was  of  a  noble  Venetian  house; 
Paul  III.  made  him  Cardinal  in  1539.  He  died,  aged  seventy-seven,  in  1547. 

C    342    j 


SHIELD     ATTRIBUTED    TO     CELLINI 
(TU  RIN  ) 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

my  own  satisfaction.  However,  I  finished  it,  and 
judged  it  about  the  finest  specimen  I  had  produced 
in  all  the  points  pertaining  to  my  art.  Great  was  the 
astonishment  of  Messer  Pietro,  who  conceived  that 
I  should  have  completed  the  waxen  model  in  two 
hours  and  the  steel  in  ten,  when  he  found  that  I  em- 
ployed two  hundred  on  the  wax,  and  then  was  beg- 
ging for  leave  to  pursue  my  journey  toward  France. 
This  threw  him  into  much  concern,  and  he  implored 
me  at  least  to  design  the  reverse  for  his  medal,  which 
was  to  be  a  Pegasus  encircled  with  a  wreath  of 
myrtle.  I  performed  my  task  in  the  space  of  some 
three  hours,  and  gave  it  a  fine  air  of  elegance.  He 
was  exceedingly  delighted,  and  said:  "This  horse 
seems  to  me  ten  times  more  difficult  to  do  than  the 
little  portrait  on  which  you  have  bestowed  so  much 
pains.  I  cannot  understand  what  made  it  such  a  la- 
bour." All  the  same,  he  kept  entreating  me  to  exe- 
cute the  piece  in  steel,  exclaiming:  "For  Heaven's 
sake,  do  it;  I  know  that,  if  you  choose,  you  will  get 
it  quickly  finished."  I  told  him  that  I  was  not  willing 
to  make  it  there,  but  promised  without  fail  to  take  it 
in  hand  wherever  I  might  stop  to  work. 

While  this  debate  was  being  carried  on  I  went 
to  bargain  for  three  horses  which  I  wanted  on  my 
travels ;  and  he  took  care  that  a  secret  watch  should 
be  kept  over  my  proceedings,  for  he  had  vast  au- 
thority in  Padua ;  wherefore,  when  I  proposed  to  pay 
for  the  horses,  which  were  to  cost  five  hundred 
ducats,  their  owner  answered :  "  Illustrious  artist,  I 
make  you  a  present  of  the  three  horses."  I  replied: 
"  It  is  not  you  who  give  them  me ;  and  from  the  gen- 
ii 343  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

erous  donor  I  cannot  accept  them,  seeing  I  have 
been  unable  to  present  him  with  any  specimen  of  my 
craft."  The  good  fellow  said  that,  if  I  did  not  take 
them,  I  should  get  no  other  horses  in  Padua,  and 
should  have  to  make  my  journey  on  foot.  Upon  that 
I  returned  to  the  magnificent  Messer  Pietro,  who 
affected  to  be  ignorant  of  the  affair,  and  only  begged 
me  with  marks  of  kindness  to  remain  in  Padua.  This 
was  contrary  to  my  intention,  for  I  had  quite  re- 
solved to  set  out;  therefore  I  had  to  accept  the  three 
horses,  and  with  them  we  began  our  journey. 

xcv 

I  chose  the  route  through  the  Grisons,  all  other 
passes  being  unsafe  on  account  of  war.  We  crossed 
the  mountains  of  the  Alba  and  Berlina ;  it  was  the 
8th  of  May,  and  the  snow  upon  them  lay  in  masses.1 
At  the  utmost  hazard  of  our  lives  we  succeeded  in 
surmounting  those  two  Alpine  ridges;  and  when 
they  had  been  traversed, we  stopped  at  a  place  which, 
if  I  remember  rightly,  is  called  Valdista.  There  we 
took  up  quarters,  and  at  nightfall  there  arrived  a 
Florentine  courier  named  Busbacca.  I  had  heard  him 
mentioned  as  a  man  of  character  and  able  in  his  pro- 
fession, but  I  did  not  know  that  he  had  forfeited  that 
reputation  by  his  rogueries.  When  he  saw  me  in  the 
hostelry,  he  addressed  me  by  my  name,  said  he  was 
going  on  business  of  importance  to  Lyons,  and  en- 
treated me  to  lend  him  money  for  the  journey.  I  said 

1  /  ha've  retained  Cellini's  spelling  of  names  upon  this  journey.  He  passed  the  Ber- 
nina  and  Albula  mountains,  descended  the  'valley  of  the  Rhine  to  Wallenstadt,  trow- 
elled by  Wtesen  and  probably  Glarus  to  Lachen  and  Zurich,  thence  to  Solothurn, 
Lausanne,  Geneva,  Lyons. 

[   344  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

I  had  no  money  to  lend,  but  that  if  he  liked  to  join 
me,  I  would  pay  his  expenses  as  far  as  Lyons.  The 
rascal  wept,  and  wheedled  me  with  a  long  story, 
saying : "  If  a  poor  courier  employed  on  affairs  of  na- 
tional consequence  has  fallen  short  of  money,  it  is 
the  duty  of  a  man  like  you  to  assist  him."  Then  he 
added  that  he  was  carrying  things  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance from  Messer  Filippo  Strozzi;1  and  showing 
me  a  leather  case  for  a  cup  he  had  with  him,  whis- 
pered in  my  ear  that  it  held  a  goblet  of  silver  which 
contained  jewels  to  the  value  of  many  thousands  of 
ducats,  together  with  letters  of  vast  consequence, 
sent  by  Messer  Filippo  Strozzi.  I  told  him  that  he 
ought  to  let  me  conceal  the  jewels  about  his  own 
person,  which  would  be  much  less  dangerous  than 
carrying  them  in  the  goblet;  he  might  give  that  up 
to  me,  and, its  value  being  probably  about  ten  crowns, 
I  would  supply  him  with  twenty-five  on  the  security. 
To  these  words  the  courier  replied  that  he  would 
go  with  me,  since  he  could  not  do  otherwise,  for  to 
give  up  the  goblet  would  not  be  to  his  honour. 

Accordingly  we  struck  the  bargain  so ;  and  taking 
horse  next  morning,  came  to  a  lake  between  Val- 
distate  and  Vessa ;  it  is  fifteen  miles  long  when  one 
reaches  Vessa.  On  beholding  the  boats  upon  that 
lake  I  took  fright;  because  they  are  of  pine,  of  no 
great  size  and  no  great  thickness,  loosely  put  togeth- 
er, and  not  even  pitched.  If  I  had  not  seen  four 
German  gentlemen,  with  their  four  horses,  embark- 
ing in  one  of  the  same  sort  as  ours,  I  should  never 

1  Filippo  Strozzi  cwai  leader  of  the  anti-Medicean  party,  nviu  in  exile.  He  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Duke  Coiimo  on  the  ist  of  August  in  this  year,  1537. 

C  345   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

have  set  my  foot  in  it;  indeed  I  should  far  more  likely 
have  turned  tail ;  but  when  I  saw  their  hare-brained 
recklessness,  I  took  it  into  my  head  that  those  Ger- 
man waters  would  not  drown  folk, as  ours  do  in  Italy. 
However,  my  two  young  men  kept  saying  to  me: 
"Benvenuto,  it  is  surely  dangerous  to  embark  in  this 
craft  with  four  horses."  I  replied:  "You  cowards, 
do  you  not  observe  how  those  four  gentlemen  have 
taken  boat  before  us,  and  are  going  on  their  way 
with  laughter?  If  this  were  wine,  as  indeed  'tis  water, 
I  should  say  that  they  were  going  gladly  to  drown 
themselves  in  it;  but  as  it  is  but  water,  I  know  well 
that  they  have  no  more  pleasure  than  we  have  in 
drowning  there/'  The  lake  was  fifteen  miles  long 
and  about  three  broad ;  on  one  side  rose  a  mountain 
very  tall  and  cavernous,  on  the  other  some  flat  land 
and  grassy.  When  we  had  gone  about  four  miles, 
it  began  to  storm  upon  the  lake,  and  our  oarsmen 
asked  us  to  help  in  rowing;  this  we  did  awhile.  I 
made  gestures  and  directed  them  to  land  us  on  the 
farther  shore ;  they  said  it  was  not  possible,  because 
there  was  not  depth  of  water  for  the  boat,  and  there 
were  shoals  there,  which  would  make  it  go  to  pieces 
and  drown  us  all ;  and  still  they  kept  on  urging  us  to 
help  them.  The  boatmen  shouted  one  to  the  other, 
calling  for  assistance.  When  I  saw  them  thus  dis- 
mayed, my  horse  being  an  intelligent  animal,  I  ar- 
ranged the  bridle  on  his  neck  and  took  the  end  of 
the  halter  with  my  left  hand.  The  horse,  like  most 
of  his  kind,  being  not  devoid  of  reason,  seemed  to 
have  an  instinct  of  my  intention ;  for  having  turned 
his  face  towards  the  fresh  grass,  I  meant  that  he 

C  346  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

should  swim  and  draw  me  after  him.  Just  at  that  mo- 
ment a  great  wave  broke  over  the  boat.  Ascanio 
shrieked  out:  "Mercy,  my  father;  save  me/'  and 
wanted  to  throw  himself  upon  my  neck.  Accordingly, 
I  laid  hand  to  my  little  dagger,  and  told  them  to  do 
as  I  had  shown  them,  seeing  that  the  horses  would 
save  their  lives  as  well  as  I  too  hoped  to  escape  with 
mine  by  the  same  means ;  but  that  if  he  tried  to  jump 
on  me,  I  should  kill  him.  So  we  went  forward  sev- 
eral miles  in  this  great  peril  of  our  lives. 

xcvi 

When  we  had  reached  the  middle  of  the  lake,  we 
found  a  little  bit  of  level  ground  where  we  could 
land,  and  I  saw  that  those  four  German  gentlemen 
had  already  come  to  shore  there ;  but  on  our  wish- 
ing to  disembark,  the  boatmen  would  hear  nothing 
of  it.  Then  I  said  to  my  young  men :  "  Now  is  the 
time  to  show  what  stuff  we  are  made  of;  so  draw 
your  swords,  and  force  these  fellows  to  put  us  on 
shore."  This  we  did,  not  however  without  difficulty, 
for  they  offered  a  stubborn  resistance.  When  at  last 
we  got  to  land,  we  had  to  climb  that  mountain  for 
two  miles,  and  it  was  more  troublesome  than  getting 
up  a  ladder.  I  was  completely  clothed  in  mail,  with 
big  boots,  and  a  gun  in  my  hand ;  and  it  was  rain- 
ing as  though  the  fountains  of  the  heavens  were 
opened.  Those  devils,  the  German  gentlemen,  lead- 
ing their  little  horses  by  the  bridle,  accomplished 
miracles  of  agility;  but  our  animals  were  not  up 
to  the  business,  and  we  burst  with  the  fatigue  of 
making  them  ascend  that  hill  of  difficulty.  We  had 

C   347  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

climbed  a  little  way,  when  Ascanio's  horse,  an  ex- 
cellent beast  of  Hungarian  race,  made  a  false  step. 
He  was  going  a  few  paces  before  the  courier  Bus- 
bacca,  to  whom  Ascanio  had  given  his  lance  to  carry 
for  him.  Well,  the  path  was  so  bad  that  the  horse 
stumbled,  and  went  on  scrambling  backwards,  with- 
out being  able  to  regain  his  footing,  till  he  stuck  upon 
the  point  of  the  lance,  which  that  rogue  of  a  courier 
had  not  the  wit  to  keep  out  of  his  way.  The  weapon 
passed  right  through  his  throat ;  and  when  my  other 
workman  went  to  help  him,  his  horse  also,  a  black- 
coloured  animal,  slipped  towards  the  lake,  and  held 
on  by  some  shrub  which  offered  but  a  slight  support. 
This  horse  was  carrying  a  pair  of  saddle-bags,  which 
contained  all  my  money  and  other  valuables.  I  cried 
out  to  the  young  man  to  save  his  own  life,  and  let 
the  horse  go  to  the  devil.  The  fall  was  more  than 
a  mile  of  precipitous  descent  above  the  waters  of  the 
lake.  Just  below  the  place  our  boatmen  had  taken 
up  their  station;  so  that  if  the  horse  fell,  he  would 
have  come  precisely  on  them.  I  was  ahead  of  the 
whole  company,  and  we  waited  to  see  the  horse 
plunge  headlong;  it  seemed  certain  that  he  must  go 
to  perdition.  During  this  I  said  to  my  young  men : 
"Be  under  no  concern;  let  us  save  our  lives,  and 
give  thanks  to  God  for  all  that  happens.  I  am  only 
distressed  for  that  poor  fellow  Busbacca,  who  tied 
his  goblet  and  his  jewels  to  the  value  of  several  thou- 
sands of  ducats  on  the  horse's  saddle-bow,  thinking 
that  the  safest  place.  My  things  are  but  a  few  hun- 
dred crowns,  and  I  am  in  no  fear  whatever,  if  only 
I  get  God's  protection."  Then  Busbacca  cried  out: 

C  348  ]] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

"I  am  not  sorry  for  my  own  loss,  but  for  yours." 
"  Why/'  said  I  to  him, "  are  you  sorry  for  my  trifles, 
and  not  for  all  that  property  of  yours  ?  "He  answered: 
"  I  will  tell  you  in  God's  name; in  these  circumstances 
and  at  the  point  of  peril  we  have  reached,  truth  must 
be  spoken.  I  know  that  yours  are  crowns,  and  are 
so  in  good  sooth ;  but  that  case  in  which  I  said  I  had 
so  many  jewels  and  other  lies,  is  all  full  of  caviare." 
On  hearing  this  I  could  not  hold  from  laughing ;  my 
young  men  laughed  too ;  and  he  began  to  cry.  The 
horse  extricated  itself  by  a  great  effort  when  we 
had  given  it  up  for  lost.  So  then,  still  laughing,  we 
summoned  our  forces,  and  bent  ourselves  to  making 
the  ascent.  The  four  German  gentlemen,  having 
gained  the  top  before  us,  sent  down  some  folk  who 
gave  us  aid.  Thus  at  length  we  reached  our  lodging 
in  the  wilderness.  Here,  being  wet  to  the  skin,  tired 
out,  and  famished,  we  were  most  agreeably  enter- 
tained; we  dried  ourselves,  took  rest,  and  satisfied 
our  hunger,  while  certain  wild  herbs  were  applied 
to  the  wounded  horse.  They  pointed  out  to  us  the 
plant  in  question,  of  which  the  hedges  were  full ;  and 
we  were  told  that  if  the  wound  was  kept  continually 
plugged  with  its  leaves,  the  beast  would  not  only 
recover,  but  would  serve  us  just  as  if  it  had  sustained 
no  injury.  We  proceeded  to  do  as  they  advised. Then 
having  thanked  those  gentlemen,  and  feeling  our- 
selves entirely  refreshed,  we  quitted  the  place,  and 
travelled  onwards,  thanking  God  for  saving  us  from 
such  great  perils. 


349 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

XCVII 

We  reached  a  town  beyond  Vessa,  where  we  passed 
the  night,  and  heard  a  watchman  through  all  the 
hours  singing  very  agreeably;  for  all  the  houses  of 
that  city  being  built  of  pine  wood,  it  was  the  watch- 
man's only  business  to  warn  folk  against  fire.  Bus- 
bacca's  nerves  had  been  quite  shaken  by  the  day's 
adventures ;  accordingly,  each  hour  when  the  watch- 
man sang,  he  called  out  in  his  sleep :  "  Ah  God,  I  am 
drowning!"  That  was  because  of  the  fright  he  had 
had;  and  besides,  he  had  got  drunk  in  the  evening, 
because  he  would  sit  boozing  with  all  the  Germans 
who  were  there;  and  sometimes  he  cried:  "I  am 
burning,"  and  sometimes:  "I  am  drowning;"  and 
at  other  times  he  thought  he  was  in  hell,  and  tor- 
tured with  that  caviare  suspended  round  his  throat. 
This  night  was  so  amusing,  that  it  turned  all  our 
troubles  into  laughter.  In  the  morning  we  rose  with 
very  fine  weather,  and  went  to  dine  in  a  smiling 
little  place  called  Lacca.  Here  we  obtained  excellent 
entertainment,  and  then  engaged  guides,  who  were 
returning  to  a  town  called  Surich.  The  guide  who 
attended  us  went  along  the  dyked  bank  of  a  lake ; 
there  was  no  other  road ;  and  the  dyke  itself  was  cov- 
ered with  water,  so  that  the  reckless  fellow  slipped, 
and  fell  together  with  his  horse  beneath  the  water. 
I,  who  was  but  a  few  steps  behind  him,  stopped  my 
horse,  and  waited  to  see  the  donkey  get  out  of  the 
water.  Just  as  if  nothing  had  happened,  he  began  to 
sing  again,  and  made  signs  to  me  to  follow.  I  broke 
away  upon  the  right  hand,  and  got  through  some 

C  350  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

hedges,  making  my  young  men  and  Busbacca  take 
that  way.  The  guide  shouted  in  German  that  if  the 
folk  of  those  parts  saw  me  they  would  put  me  to 
death.  However,  we  passed  forward,  and  escaped 
that  other  storm. 

So  we  arrived  at  Surich,  a  marvellous  city,  bright 
and  polished  like  a  little  gem.  There  we  rested  a 
whole  day,  then  left  betimes  one  morning,  and  reached 
another  fair  city  called  Solutorno.  Thence  we  came 
to  Usanna,  from  Usanna  to  Ginevra,  from  Ginevra 
to  Lione,  always  singing  and  laughing.  At  Lione  I 
rested  four  days,  and  had  much  pleasant  intercourse 
with  some  of  my  friends  there;  I  was  also  repaid  what 
I  had  spent  upon  Busbacca ;  afterwards  I  set  out  upon 
the  road  to  Paris.  This  was  a  delightful  journey,  ex- 
cept that  when  we  reached  Palissa '  a  band  of  ven- 
turers tried  to  murder  us,2  and  it  was  only  by  great 
courage  and  address  that  we  got  free  from  them. 
From  that  point  onward  we  travelled  to  Paris  with- 
out the  least  trouble  in  the  world.  Always  singing 
and  laughing,  we  arrived  safely  at  our  destination. 

XCVIII 

After  taking  some  repose  in  Paris,  I  went  to  visit 
the  painter  Rosso,  who  was  in  the  King's  service. 
I  thought  to  find  in  him  one  of  the  sincerest  friends  I 
had  in  the  world,  seeing  that  in  Rome  I  had  done 
him  the  greatest  benefits  which  one  man  can  confer 
upon  another.  As  these  may  be  described  briefly, 

1  La  Police, 

*  Cellini,  in  the  narrative  of  his  second  French  journey,  explains  that  these  ventu- 

rieri  'were  a  notable  crew  of  very  daring  brigands  in  the  Lyonese  province. 

C  351    ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

I  will  not  here  omit  their  mention,  in  order  to  ex- 
pose the  shamelessness  of  such  ingratitude.  While 
he  was  in  Rome,  then,  being  a  man  given  to  back- 
biting, he  spoke  so  ill  of  Raffaello  da  Urbino's  works, 
that  the  pupils  of  the  latter  were  quite  resolved  to 
murder  him.  From  this  peril  I  saved  him  by  keeping 
a  close  watch  upon  him  day  and  night.  Again,  the 
evil  things  said  by  Rosso  against  San  Gallo,1  that 
excellent  architect,  caused  the  latter  to  get  work 
taken  from  him  which  he  had  previously  procured 
for  him  from  Messer  Agnolo  da  Cesi ;  and  after  this 
San  Gallo  used  his  influence  so  strenuously  against 
him  that  he  must  have  been  brought  to  the  verge 
of  starvation,  had  not  I  pitied  his  condition  and  lent 
him  some  scores  of  crowns  to  live  upon.  So,  then, 
not  having  been  repaid,  and  knowing  that  he  held 
employment  under  the  King,  I  went,  as  I  have  said, 
to  look  him  up.  I  did  not  merely  expecl  him  to  dis- 
charge his  debt,  but  also  to  show  me  favour  and  as- 
sist in  placing  me  in  that  great  monarch's  service. 

When  Rosso  set  eyes  on  me,  his  countenance 
changed  suddenly,  and  he  exclaimed:  "Benvenuto, 
you  have  taken  this  long  journey  at  great  charges 
to  your  loss;  especially  at  this  present  time,  when 
all  men's  thoughts  are  occupied  with  war,  and  not 
with  the  bagatelles  of  our  profession."  I  replied  that 
I  had  brought  money  enough  to  take  me  back  to 
Rome  as  I  had  come  to  Paris,  and  that  this  was  not 
the  proper  return  for  the  pains  I  had  endured  for 
him,  and  that  now  I  began  to  believe  what  Maestro 
Antonio  da  San  Gallo  said  of  him.  When  he  tried 

1  Antonio  da,  San  Gallo,  one  of  the  best  arc/liters  of  the  later  Renaissance. 

C   352   ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

to  turn  the  matter  into  jest  on  this  exposure  of  his 
baseness,  I  showed  him  a  letter  of  exchange  for  five 
hundred  crowns  upon  Ricciardo  del  Bene.  Then  the 
rascal  was  ashamed,  and  wanted  to  detain  me  almost 
by  force;  but  I  laughed  at  him,  and  took  my  leave 
in  the  company  of  a  painter  whom  I  found  there. 
This  man  was  called  Sguazzella:1  he  too  was  a  Flor- 
entine ;  and  I  went  to  lodge  in  his  house,  with  three 
horses  and  three  servants,  at  so  much  per  week.  He 
treated  me  very  well,  and  was  even  better  paid  by 
me  in  return. 

Afterwards  I  sought  audience  of  the  King,  through 
the  introduction  of  his  treasurer,  Messer  Giuliano 
Buonaccorti.2 1  met,  however,  with  considerable  de- 
lays, owing,  as  I  did  not  then  know,  to  the  strenu- 
ous exertions  Rosso  made  against  my  admission  to 
his  Majesty.  When  Messer  Giuliano  became  aware 
of  this,  he  took  me  down  at  once  to  Fontana  Bilio,3 
and  brought  me  into  the  presence  of  the  King,  who 
granted  me  a  whole  hour  of  very  gracious  audience. 
Since  he  was  then  on  the  point  of  setting  out  for 
Lyons,  he  told  Messer  Giuliano  to  take  me  with 
him,  adding  that  on  the  journey  we  could  discuss 
some  works  of  art  his  Majesty  had  it  in  his  head  to 
execute.  Accordingly,  I  followed  the  court ;  and  on 
the  way  I  entered  into  close  relations  with  the  Car- 
dinal of  Ferrara,  who  had  not  at  that  period  obtained 
the  hat.4  Every  evening  I  used  to  hold  long  conver- 

1  A  pupil  of  Andrea  del  Sarto,  'who  *went  with  him  to  France  and  settled  there. 

2  A  Florentine  exile  mentioned  by  Varchi. 

3  Fontainebleau.  Cellini  always  writes  it  as  above. 

4  Ippolito  d^Este,  son  of  Alfonso,  Duke  of  Ferrara  $  Archbishop  of  Milan  at  the  age 
of  fifteen ;  Cardinal  in  1539;  spent  a  large  part  of  his  life  in  France. 

C  353   U 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

sations  with  the  Cardinal,  in  the  course  of  which  his 
lordship  advised  me  to  remain  at  an  abbey  of  his  in 
Lyons,  and  there  to  abide  at  ease  until  the  King  re- 
turned from  this  campaign,  adding  that  he  was  going 
on  to  Grenoble,  and  that  I  should  enjoy  every  con- 
venience in  the  abbey. 

When  we  reached  Lyons  I  was  already  ill,  and 
my  lad  Ascanio  had  taken  a  quartan  fever.  The 
French  and  their  court  were  both  grown  irksome  to 
me,  and  I  counted  the  hours  till  I  could  find  myself 
again  in  Rome.  On  seeing  my  anxiety  to  return 
home,  the  Cardinal  gave  me  money  sufficient  for 
making  him  a  silver  bason  and  jug.  So  we  took  good 
horses,  and  set  our  faces  in  the  direction  of  Rome, 
passing  the  Simplon,  and  travelling  for  some  while 
in  the  company  of  certain  Frenchmen;  Ascanio 
troubled  by  his  quartan,  and  I  by  a  slow  fever  which 
I  found  it  quite  impossible  to  throw  off.  I  had,  more- 
over, got  my  stomach  out  of  order  to  such  an  extent, 
that  for  the  space  of  four  months,  as  I  verily  believe, 
I  hardly  ate  one  whole  loaf  of  bread  in  the  week ; 
and  great  was  my  longing  to  reach  Italy,  being  de- 
sirous to  die  there  rather  than  in  France. 

xcix 

When  we  had  crossed  the  mountains  of  the  Simplon, 
we  came  to  a  river  near  a  place  called  Indevedro.1 
It  was  broad  and  very  deep,  spanned  by  a  long  nar- 
row bridge  without  ramparts.  That  morning  a  thick 
white  frost  had  fallen;  and  when  I  reached  the  bridge, 
riding  before  the  rest,  I  recognised  how  dangerous 

1  Probably  the  Dweria  in  the  Valdi*vedro. 

•  C  354  D 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

it  was,  and  bade  my  servants  and  young  men  dis- 
mount and  lead  their  horses.  So  I  got  across  without 
accident,  and  rode  on  talking  with  one  of  the  French- 
men, whose  condition  was  that  of  a  gentleman.  The 
other,  who  was  a  scrivener,  lagged  a  little  way  be- 
hind, jeering  the  French  gentleman  and  me  because 
we  had  been  so  frightened  by  nothing  at  all  as  to 
give  ourselves  the  trouble  of  walking.  I  turned  round, 
and  seeing  him  upon  the  middle  of  the  bridge, 
begged  him  to  come  gently,  since  the  place  was  very 
dangerous.  The  fellow,  true  to  his  French  nature, 
cried  out  in  French  that  I  was  a  man  of  poor  spirit, 
and  that  there  was  no  danger  whatsoever.  While 
he  spoke  these  words  and  urged  his  horse  forward, 
the  animal  suddenly  slipped  over  the  bridge,  and 
fell  with  legs  in  air  close  to  a  huge  rock  there  was 
there.  Now  God  is  very  often  merciful  to  madmen ; 
so  the  two  beasts,  human  and  equine,  plunged  to- 
gether into  a  deep  wide  pool,  where  both  of  them 
went  down  below  the  water.  On  seeing  what  had 
happened,  I  set  off  running  at  full  speed,  scrambled 
with  much  difficulty  on  to  the  rock,  and  dangling 
over  from  it,  seized  the  skirt  of  the  scrivener's  gown 
and  pulled  him  up,  for  he  was  still  submerged  be- 
neath the  surface.  He  had  drunk  his  bellyful  of  wa- 
ter, and  was  within  an  ace  of  being  drowned.  I  then, 
beholding  him  out  of  danger,  congratulated  the  man 
upon  my  having  been  the  means  of  rescuing  his  life. 
The  fellow  to  this  answered  me  in  French,  that  I 
had  done  nothing;  the  important  things  to  save  were 
his  writings,  worth  many  scores  of  crowns ;  and  these 
words  he  seemed  to  say  in  anger,  dripping  wet  and 

[  355  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

spluttering  the  while.  Thereupon,  I  turned  round  to 
our  guides,  and  ordered  them  to  help  the  brute, 
adding  that  I  would  see  them  paid.  One  of  them  with 
great  address  and  trouble  set  himself  to  the  business, 
and  picked  up  all  the  fellow's  writings,  so  that  he 
lost  not  one  of  them ;  the  other  guide  refused  to  trou- 
ble himself  by  rendering  any  assistance. 

I  ought  here  to  say  that  we  had  made  a  purse  up,  and 
that  I  performed  the  part  of  paymaster.  So,  when  we 
reached  the  place  I  mentioned, and  had  dined,!  drew 
some  coins  from  the  common  purse  and  gave  them 
to  the  guide  who  helped  to  draw  him  from  the  water. 
Thereupon  the  fellow  called  out  that  I  might  pay 
them  out  of  my  own  pocket ;  he  had  no  intention  of 
giving  the  man  more  than  what  had  been  agreed 
on  for  his  services  as  guide.  Upon  this  I  retorted 
with  insulting  language.  Then  the  other  guide,  who 
had  done  nothing,  came  up  and  demanded  to  be  re- 
warded also.  I  told  him  that  the  one  who  had  borne 
the  cross  deserved  the  recompense.  He  cried  out 
that  he  would  presently  show  me  a  cross  which 
should  make  me  repent.  I  replied  that  I  would  light 
a  candle  at  that  cross,  which  should,  I  hoped,  make 
him  to  be  the  first  to  weep  his  folly.  The  village 
we  were  in  lay  on  the  frontier  between  Venice  and 
the  Germans.  So  the  guide  ran  off  to  bring  the  folk 
together,  and  came,  followed  by  a  crowd,  with  a 
boar-spear  in  his  hand.  Mounted  on  my  good  steed, 
I  lowered  the  barrel  of  my  arquebuse,  and  turning 
to  my  comrades,  cried:  "At  the  first  shot  I  shall 
bring  that  fellow  down ;  do  you  likewise  your  duty, 
for  these  are  highway  robbers,  who  have  used  this 

C  356  J 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

little  incident  to  contrive  our  murder."  The  inn- 
keeper at  whose  house  we  had  dined  called  one  of 
the  leaders,  an  imposing  old  man,  and  begged  him 
to  put  a  stop  to  the  disorder,  saying:  "  This  is  a  most 
courageous  young  man;  you  may  cut  him  to  pieces, 
but  he  will  certainly  kill  a  lot  of  you,  and  perhaps 
will  escape  your  hands  after  doing  all  the  mischief 
he  is  able."  So  matters  calmed  down:  and  the  old 
man,  their  leader,  said  to  me :  "Go  in  peace;  you 
would  not  have  much  to  boast  of  against  us,  even 
if  you  had  a  hundred  men  to  back  you."  I  recog- 
nised the  truth  of  his  words,  and  had  indeed  made 
up  my  mind  to  die  among  them ;  therefore,  when 
no  further  insults  were  cast  at  me,  I  shook  my  head 
and  exclaimed:  "I  should  certainly  have  done  my 
utmost  to  prove  I  am  no  statue,  but  a  man  of  flesh 
and  spirit."  Then  we  resumed  our  journey;  and  that 
evening,  at  the  first  lodging  we  came  to,  settled  our 
accounts  together.  There  I  parted  forever  from  that 
beast  of  a  Frenchman,  remaining  on  very  friendly 
terms  with  the  other,  who  was  a  gentleman.  After- 
wards I  reached  Ferrara,  with  my  three  horses  and 
no  other  company. 

Having  dismounted,  I  went  to  court  in  order  to 
pay  my  reverence  to  the  Duke,  and  gain  permission 
to  depart  next  morning  for  Loreto.  When  I  had 
waited  until  two  hours  after  nightfall,  his  Excellency 
appeared.  I  kissed  his  hands;  he  received  me  with 
much  courtesy,  and  ordered  that  water  should  be 
brought  for  me  to  wash  my  hands  before  eating.  To 
this  compliment  I  made  a  pleasant  answer:  "Most 
excellent  lord,  it  is  now  more  than  four  months 

C  357  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

that  I  have  eaten  only  just  enough  to  keep  life  to- 
gether ;  knowing  therefore  that  I  could  not  enjoy  the 
delicacies  of  your  royal  table,  I  will  stay  and  talk 
with  you  while  your  Excellency  is  supping ;  in  this 
way  we  shall  both  have  more  pleasure  than  if  I  were 
to  sup  with  you."  Accordingly,  we  entered  into  con- 
versation, and  prolonged  it  for  the  next  three  hours. 
At  that  time  I  took  my  leave,  and  when  I  got  back  to 
the  inn,  found  a  most  excellent  meal  ready;  for  the 
Duke  had  sent  me  the  plates  from  his  own  banquet, 
together  with  some  famous  wine.  Having  now  fasted 
two  full  hours  beyond  my  usual  hour  for  supping,  I 
fell  to  with  hearty  appetite ;  and  this  was  the  first  time 
since  four  months  that  I  felt  the  power  or  will  to  eat. 


Leaving  Ferrara  in  the  morning,  I  went  to  Santa 
Maria  at  Loreto;  and  thence,  having  performed  my 
devotions,  pursued  the  journey  to  Rome.  There  I 
found  my  most  faithful  Felice,  to  whom  I  abandoned 
my  old  shop  with  all  its  furniture  and  appurtenances, 
and  opened  another,  much  larger  and  roomier,  next 
to  Sugherello,  the  perfumer.  I  thought  for  certain 
that  the  great  King  Francis  would  not  have  re- 
membered me.  Therefore  I  accepted  commissions 
from  several  noblemen;  and  in  the  meanwhile  began 
the  bason  and  jug  ordered  by  the  Cardinal  of  Fer- 
rara. I  had  a  crowd  of  workmen,  and  many  large 
affairs  on  hand  in  gold  and  silver. 

Now  the  arrangement  I  had  made  with  that  Peru- 
gian  workman1  was  that  he  should  write  down  all 

1  In  his  Ricordi  Cellini  calls  the  man  Girolamo  Paseucci. 

C  358  3 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

the  moneys  which  had  been  disbursed  on  his  account, 
chiefly  for  clothes  and  divers  other  sundries;  and 
these,  together  with  the  costs  of  travelling,  amounted 
to  about  seventy  crowns.  We  agreed  that  he  should 
discharge  the  debt  by  monthly  payments  of  three 
crowns;  and  this  he  was  well  able  to  do,  since  he 
gained  more  than  eight  through  me.  At  the  end  of 
two  months  the  rascal  decamped  from  my  shop,  leav- 
ing me  in  the  lurch  with  a  mass  of  business  on  my 
hands,  and  saying  that  he  did  not  mean  to  pay  me 
a  farthing  more.  I  was  resolved  to  seek  redress,  but 
allowed  myself  to  be  persuaded  to  do  so  by  the  way 
of  justice.  At  first  I  thought  of  lopping  off  an  arm 
of  his ;  and  assuredly  I  should  have  done  so,  if  my 
friends  had  not  told  me  that  it  was  a  mistake,  seeing 
I  should  lose  my  money  and  perhaps  Rome  too  a  sec- 
ond time,  forasmuch  as  blows  cannot  be  measured, 
and  that  with  the  agreement  I  held  of  his  I  could  at 
any  moment  have  him  taken  up.  I  listened  to  their 
advice,  though  I  should  have  liked  to  conduct  the 
affair  more  freely.  As  a  matter  of  fa£b,  I  sued  him  be- 
fore the  auditor  of  the  Camera,  and  gained  my  suit; 
in  consequence  of  that  decree,  for  which  I  waited 
several  months,  I  had  him  thrown  into  prison.  At 
the  same  time  I  was  overwhelmed  with  large  com- 
missions; among  others,  I  had  to  supply  all  the  or- 
naments of  gold  and  jewels  for  the  wife  of  Signor 
Gierolimo  Orsino,  father  of  Signor  Paolo,  who  is  now 
the  son-in-law  of  our  Duke  Cosimo.1  These  things 
/ 

1  He  luas  Duke  of  Bracctano,  father  of  Duke  Paolo,  iuho  married  Isabella  de"1  Medici, 
and  murdered  her  before  his  second  marriage  'with  Pittoria  Accoramboni.  See  my 
Renaissance  in  Italy,  vol.  wi. 

C   359  ] 


LIFE  OF  BENVENUTO  CELLINI 

I  had  nearly  finished ;  yet  others  of  the  greatest  con- 
sequence were  always  coming  in.  I  employed  eight 
work-people,  and  worked  day  and  night  together 
with  them,  for  the  sake  alike  of  honour  and  of  gain. 


UCLA-Art  Library 

NB  623  C3S9  1906  v.1 


L  006  226  481  7 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A    001  221  018    3 


